Adventures in Fictional Reality Book 1
by GuardianAngel510
Summary: The Other is spreading darkness throughout existence. I have been chosen to stop him. It is the dream I had always had and the mission I was given. My first assignment, the dimension of Harry Potter
1. Preface

**Hi everyone,**

** I need some help here. A friend of mine told me I should upload this story. I wasn't sure because of how it is written. I was interested in writing a Harry Potter story told by the viewpoint of a new character who becomes part of the best friends of Harry. However, since this is told within that viewpoint, a portion of it is written from that character's perspective, while other parts of it have always been written by Rowling herself. So, in essence, its the re-telling of the Harry Potter stories, but from a different viewpoint. So while, you've read some of what you read here before, you'll find that some of it is not here. My question and what I need your help on is what to classify this as. I had started this fanfic mainly for myself and a few friends that are also Potter fans. However, does it belong here? Since I use a good chunk of material from the books already in existence, is it a fan fiction and should I keep it up here? I've uploaded a little more than half the story. I need your help to decide if I should continue to upload or just delete the whole thing from here. So, to be clear though, Harry Potter and his story do not belong to me. They belong to J.K. Rowling. All that belongs to me is a new character's perspective on a known story. Thanks in advance for any comments.**

Adventures in Fictional Reality

Book 1

Preface

The Beginning

In the true Beginning there was the Absence. It was not Something and it was not Nothing. There simply was the Absence. Then, in a moment of infinity, there came both Something and Nothing into existence. Just as there is matter and anti-matter, there is both Something and Nothing out there. And from both entities came creation; the creation of more somethings of different types and sorts. And the creation of more nothings of different types and sorts. However, the relationship between the two is not the black and white that many believe. They are not natural enemies. They are just naturally different. A being becomes good or evil based on its choices, not the existence it was created in. However, this is a mystery each being must find out on their own. Since many beings did not even understand that there was both Something and Nothing, the lesser mysteries escaped them entirely.

There was once someone who realized this greater mystery of the Something and the Nothing. They also realized that good and evil could come from both sides. In realizing that they realized that power can also come from both sides. This someone, in realizing this, sought to attain power over Evil, deciding it to be the greater of the two powers. And, in realizing that existence is tied together, began leaving seeds of its evil in dimensions around existence, seeking to alter their balance, their alignment. In creating more evil, through its own evil, it would then grow stronger. This someone became the Other, not of the Something or the Nothing, not of the light or the dark, but simply of the self. The Other moved in secret at first, no one noticing what the Other was doing. But as the Other moved to more and more dimensions, it became more apparent what the Other was doing.

So the Something and the Nothing sent out Representatives to find someone that could restore the balance. But finding that being that could oppose the Other was much harder than anticipated. Finally such a being was found, but not by one of the Representatives, but by one not even looking.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My Beginning

She came to me one night. She is a being of infinite power, not a god or a goddess for she has no taste for creating beings and ruling over them. She travels through the dimensions of reality, existence, and everywhere and nowhere in between. She is a being of curiosity, which is why she came to me in the first place. She had peered into my mind, my spirit, my soul and seen my dreams, my hopes, my wishes, and my fantasies. They caught her fancy, raised her curiosity and she came to speak to me. And as we spoke she became even more interested. I was a writer, an avid reader, and movie watcher. But I wanted more, I wanted to experience those worlds as reality. I wanted to live in them, learn from them, gain knowledge and experience and through them, hopefully, wisdom. I wanted to learn the ways of the warrior, the skills of the ranger, the power of the wizard, the technology of the advanced, and the healing ways of the clerics. She is an ageless being and had already spent time beyond counting traveling through dimensions. What was possibly centuries more traveling around on the hopes and dreams of a human to an ageless being like her. But it wasn't just that. While she had previously had no wish of the responsibilities of the Representatives, she had heard of them and their mission. She realized that she had found the one they were looking for and all by chance. So I went with her to meet Them.

I stepped out of my world, my dimension, holding her hand, letting her guide us where she only knew. As I left my world I also left the boundaries of time and space. I could spend time beyond counting traveling through dimensions and come back to my own dimension and time, as if no time had gone by since I left. We came to a place that was a boundary. A meeting of the Something and the Nothing, the light and the dark. No words were spoken, they simply looked into me, into my mind, my heart, and my spirit. I was chosen. I was given my wish to visit dimensions and worlds beyond my own. At the same time I would be fulfilling the mission of bringing Good and balance back to existence. Angela was named as my Representative to Them. With their blessing we left to start my dreams and Their mission.

We arrived at a dimension home to no one, but now us. It was a dimension ready for shaping, a dimension I would call home as long as my journey went on. Time no longer had any meaning to us, so I could never say how long I had been there at any time.

I had become ageless, at least for awhile. We spent time making the dimension comfortable for us. She found my human habits interesting, she wanted to know about many things that I did. Why I chose to pick the landscape of the world, why I chose a house to be created, why I decorated it how I did, why I dressed like I did. It was interesting to me as well, to answer these questions, to question much of my own existence. In a way it was like studying philosophy, the study of being. During that time she took the name of Angela after a comic book character she took a liking to. As our world became our home she turned her focus from the world to me.

She began enhancing my body and my mind. I gained great knowledge and, with her help, came to have great wisdom from that knowledge. My body was honed to a level far beyond any human, even one that had been genetically engineered. And I was given great power, one could call it magic, one could call it manipulation of energy. Whatever it can be called, I was given these powers and taught to use them easily, but responsibly by her. I spent much time training and using my abilities in an effort to make all of them natural and flawless. It was beyond words to experience being able to use the abilities I now possessed. I could draw with the skill of the greatest of artisans. I could play and sing with the skill of a natural virtiouioso. I moved with the natural grace of a cat, I could move quicker than the eye, and had stamina and energy to outlast the greatest of athletes. It was only after these things all became natural to me that we left to pursue our first adventure. I wished to travel to, and learn from many dimensions that were simple fantasy in my world. But in the greater dimensional existence, they were as real as my own world. So the first world I visited was known in my world as the world of Harry Potter.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Pathwardens

When we arrived and secured housing and the like, I reverted to the age of 12, the general age of entrance into the magical school of Hogwarts. I lost none of my power or abilities even as I reverted in age. We took the name of Pathwarden, a magical family that had actually left to study other dimensions with the help of a being like Angela, a being that she is familiar with. The Pathwardens had told people of their world they were going to travel to distant lands but in the years since their departure had been known to disappear without a trace. The Pathwardens were a family of ancient legend, known to be powerful magic users whose genealogy dated back centuries. So we let the rumors fly that the Pathwarden family had returned to England from distant lands unknown. Not long after we established ourselves I, as Damian Pathwarden, received an invitation to attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I accepted without hesitation.

To say that I was excited was an understatement. I was living a life that had only been in the pages of fiction books in my world. I counted down two dates on my calendar. The first date was the day we would go shopping for school supplies in Diagon Alley. The second, and most important, was the day I would board the train to attend my first year at Hogwarts. Even, to the ageless being I had become, it was almost hard to wait for those days. It wasn't long before she, as my mother, and taking the name of Angela Pathwarden, and I were walking down the streets of Diagon Alley. I saw the many stores that had been familiar to me only as printed words on a page, now in all their glory. But I knew that I wasn't the only one here shopping for supplies. In addition to the numerous Hogwarts students, there was one in particular that I was here specifically on this day to meet. And who else would it be but Harry Potter.

I knew I was early because I knew exactly when I had to walk into Madam Malkins and meet Harry. It would be after Draco talked to Harry, but then instead of Harry leaving first, Angela would arrange to have something delay Madam Malkins fitting of Harry, so Draco would leave first. Then I would begin my fitting and talk to Harry. But we had time to spare until then. We had no need to visit Gringotts, Angela could create money out of molecules in anything, even air; it was a skill which she taught to me, so there was no need to have a vault. So our first stop was Ollivanders.

The funny thing is that we were going to Ollivanders not for a primary wand, but for a secondary wand. When we first decided on entering this world Angela presented me with a very powerful, indestructible wand that she had matched exactly to my bio signature for the greatest power capability. Besides being so powerful, it was a beautiful wand. It was made from an enchanted cherry blossom tree and shot through with accents of what looked like silver. Those accents were actually shards of uru metal from the making of Mjollnir, Thor's Hammer. The core was unique as well. Most wands came with a single item that made up the core of the wand, a single phoenix feather, a strand of unicorn hair, a dragon heartstring. However, this was a tri-core wand. Inside were three similar, but distinct feathers. The first came from the Fung-Huang, a Chinese relative of the phoenix, more powerful than its European cousin. The second came from a Huma, known by some as a bird of paradise, and also relative of the phoenix and the third from a normal bred phoenix. This was to be my main wand. The wand from Ollivanders had to be special too though. Angela had been training me in the art of dual wand casting, known as dualism. The ability to fire off the same spell from two different wands at the same time, or even harder yet to fire two totally different spells at the same time. It was an art that was totally impossible for most, but the ways in which Angela enhanced my mind made me a natural. So the Ollivanders wand I got had to work in concert with my main wand. So, without hesitation we stepped into Ollivanders shop. He was making notes in his ledger when we walked in. He looked up and smiled at us.

"Its not often that I cannot place the people that come into my shop."

Angela smiled back at him and extended her hand,

"Angela Pathwarden and this is my son, Damian."

"The Pathwardens! Back from parts unknown, how exciting! His first year at Hogwarts is it? Now which is your wand arm."

"His left, but he already has a primary wand. We are here because I am teaching him dualism. He needs a secondary wand for his right hand."

"An 11 year old learning dualism?" Ollivander said, a note of surprise in his voice, his silver eyebrows raised.

"I assure you, he is already quite adept."

Ollivander regarded me with his silver eyes and smiled.

"I feel that the Pathwardens came back from parts _much_ unknown. I will take your word madam. Now, if I can see the primary wand, as to match as best I can."

I noticed that Ollivander had emphasized the word 'much' but I didn't say anything. I simply pulled out my wand and handed it to him. His eyes widened as he took the wand and examined it.

"I've never seen a wand so extraordinary. Just the wand itself is made of greatly powerful materials, to say nothing of the core. Even in the world of magic one might say the existence of this wand is impossible, but yet here it is. This is indeed a sticky order to fill, but I will do my best."

With that, he handed the wand to me and disappeared into the back room. We could occasionally hear the sounds of items being shuffled around and Ollivander talking to himself, but he stayed in the back, searching for whatever the right partner to my wand would be. He finally came back holding a small, dusty wooden chest in his arms.

"My family has been making wands long before we set up shop here in Diagon. A great ancestor of mine was both a wand maker and a seer. She made seven wands that she placed in the family care and said that one day we would know when they were to be sold and who they were to be sold to. My family has sold all but three. I believe that one of these last wands was meant for you."

He set down the chest on the counter and opened it. He pulled out three long, wooden boxes carved with magical runes and writing.

"Now primary wand in your wand hand please."

I followed his instructions and pulled out my wand, holding it ready. Then he selected the last box and handed the wand to me. Sparks came from both wands, but it didn't seem to be the reaction that Ollivander was looking for. He took the wand back and selected the first box, handing me the wand. Different and slightly more vibrant sparks came from that combination, but it still didn't seem to be the effect that Ollivander was looking for. He took the wand back and with a slight hesitation selected the box in the middle. He took out the wand and handed it to me. Light filled the room, bands of light flowed from the wands and I rose in the air a few inches. I could feel the powerful connection streaming from the two wands. Ollivander smiled and clapped his hands.

"Good show, good show indeed. I had never thought that I would be one of the Ollivanders to pass on one of the seven wands, but I would have never dreamed that I would be the Ollivander to pass on that particular wand."

"What's different about this wand from the other six?" I asked, looking at it.

"That particular wand is known as the Wand of Harmony. There is a reason, Mr. Pathwarden, that wands only contain one kind of core. If one were to try and place the cores of a unicorn and a dragon, or a unicorn and a phoenix, or a dragon and a phoenix, or any other different magical creatures together the wand would explode, violently, the first time it was used.

Each magical creature has a power surrounding it, an aura, if you will. And it is rare to find magical animals whose auras are in harmony with one another. But there were once three magical creatures, a dragon, a unicorn, and a phoenix that traveled together. Only my ancestor, a seer, knew about this trio. A core from each of the three was taken by her and those three cores were actually able to be bound together within a single wand, making that wand immensely powerful. No one even knows that this wand exists. If it was known it would be the stuff of legends and stories, but here it has stayed in my family's possession. But now that wand is the one that is in your hand. You will do great things, of that I am certain Mr. Pathwarden."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Boy Who Lived

We paid for my wand, he wrapped up the box for me and Angela and I headed out to Madam Malkins. It was time to meet Harry Potter. I could see as we walked in that Draco had just asked Harry if his parents had been 'our kind' and was going to ask him surname. Madam Malkin was almost finished pinning up Harry's robe though. She looked up as we walked in.

"Mrs. Pathwarden! So good to see you again. Leslie, after you're done with the young master would you take over here? I'll be right back."

Angela smiled at Harry,

"I apologize for interrupting your fitting young man. If I had known Madam Malkin was going to rush off I would have told her no hurry is necessary."

"Its okay." Harry replied, looking relieved to have a break from talking to Draco. He didn't need to worry though, as soon as Madam Malkin had said Pathwarden, Draco's head had jerked up to size Angela and I up. I began to casually stroll around the shop, looking at the displays, knowing that Draco was turning his nose up as he evaluated me.

"So these are the Pathwardens that everyone has been talking about." He said, pitching his voice loud enough for Harry and I to hear, but not loud enough for the adults. I smirked at Draco.

"You must be one of the Malfoys that everyone would rather not talk about."

Draco opened his mouth to retort, but the assistant interrupted, saying he was finished. He glared at me on his way out. I ignored him and turned to Harry, holding out my hand.

"Damian Pathwarden, sorry we got in the way of your fitting."

"Harry Potter, nice to meet you. Its okay, I'm not in a hurry either."

"New to the wizarding world Harry?"

Harry flushed red, looking embarrassed.

"Does it show that much?"

I laughed and smiled at him,

"Not really. Its just that most people whose nose isn't permantly stuck up look a lot less happy when a Malfoy talks to them."

I winked and Harry laughed, now knowing I meant no offense. I could tell he felt better. Leslie, the assistant, had continued where Malkin had left off on Harry's robes and Madam Malkin had already started on pinning up mine. It was evident that Malkin was the more experienced one, by how quickly and efficiently she worked as opposed to Leslie.

"Don't worry about being new to magic. There are a lot of people that start out the same way at Hogwarts."

We finished our fitting about the same time and walked outside together. Angela introduced herself and me to Hagrid, who blushed bright red beneath his beard when she remarked that she had heard such wonderful things about his gamekeeping skills at such a large campus as Hogwarts.

"I'll see you on the platform Harry!" I yelled as we walked away. Harry waved back before being covered up in the crowd. I could tell that he felt much more relaxed about heading to Hogwarts than he had before.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Wizard's Life

Now there was just the month to wait until I boarded the train to Hogwarts. I had plenty to do though. The name we borrowed, the Pathwardens, were a very powerful magical family, a family known to be good to others, down to earth, but private, and keeping to themselves. However, they had been a family of wizards and I had to get used to knowing all the things that any 11 year old child growing up in a wizarding family would know. I studied things that were normal to others, Quidditch teams, wizard celebrities, bedtime stories, common rumors, prominent wizarding families, children's games, wizarding careers, all sorts of different things. Of course I learned many other things that were well beyond 11 year old wizards, things that were beyond the most accomplished wizards of this world. Angela taught me magic, spells, potions, herb lore, and of course, learning the art of dualism. I learned about the art of creating new spells and potions. I knew that the present technology of this world either went haywire or simply wouldn't work in the world of magic and definitely not at Hogwarts. But Angela had granted me access to technology far beyond this world or my own. I could study the energy forces and elements of magic with technology that was perfectly attuned to magic. I was very interested in using my new abilities to create new technology that worked with magic, magical weapons, new spells, all sorts of different things. So I studied. I spent time on other things as well though. I practiced dueling, I learned how to play Quidditch. Angela had gotten me a brand new Nimbus 2000. I could conjure phantom players to play against. My skill in flying and playing increased to pro Quidditch levels.

Through the new abilities Angela had given me and through her own magic I had access to information no one else had. I learned the stories of the Potter line, Dumbledore, Black, Longbottom, Malfoy, Gryffindor, Slytherin and many others. Of course, more important than any of these was learning about the Pathwarden line in case I met anyone who had contact with the real Pathwardens. This study of all the histories and timelines was most important. One might think I already knew everything that was going to happen. But that's where things got complicated. There was a difference between the books and the real thing. The books were a mixture of real events and the author's own imagination. It seems that some people in different dimensions get a glimpse into other dimension through their mind. So, basically everything that's been written exists somewhere as reality. But, its never a clear picture to these people and they don't realize they're receiving ideas from other dimensions. As far as they are concerned, its all from their imagination. So there is no separating what is true and what the author came up with on their own. On top of this, the Greater Powers put in certain safeguards against a dimension being altered too much. So the knowledge I had of those books had been turned fuzzy. I could remember things here and there. I got flashes and sometimes just a feeling or instinct to do something or to let something happen. I understood the reason for this though. If I thought something that the author came up with on their own was going to actually happen I might do something that would severely alter events in this dimension. And it might not be in a good way either. So, I studied and research just as much as I trained and practiced.

All this training, studying, and information would help me in what I had come to do. But it also gave me something to keep me busy. The days flew by and it wasn't long before the first of September arrived, the first day of school.

One handy part of learning from Angela is that I had found a way, by myself no less, to get around being detected by the Underage Magic Statute. I had performed a charm to extend the interior size of my school trunk without adding to the weight to accommodate everything I wanted to bring. That way it looked the same size from the outside, but I could carry so much more without it being too heavy to lift.

In addition to my textbooks and school stuff I was bringing a guitar, a violin, drawing supplies, a really nice professional camera, and some of the technology I was still working on. The only thing I was leaving behind, for now at least, was my Nimbus. But Angela had another gift for me. It was a barn owl, but no ordinary owl. This was an owl that Angela had enhanced both biologically and magically. She was white, but instead of the brown that most barn owls have, she had silver. I gave her the name of Sarah, after the character in the movie Labyrinth, which had a barn owl in it. So, with everything I needed packed in my trunk and my new owl in her cage Angela and I headed to the train station. I knew we were there before Harry was to arrive, as we had planned. So we got onto the platform and I put my trunk up. Angela waited for Harry as well. Not only would I help to change things in this world, but Angela had decided to play a hands-on role as Representative instead of an observer. In a way, she was going to be the balance on the opposite side of Molly Weasley. We waited on the platform and it wasn't long before we saw Percy Weasley come through, followed by Fred and then George. Then came Harry.

"Harry, over here!" I yelled waving.

Harry looked around bewildered before spotting me and broke out in a grin as he brought his cart over.

"Hi Damian. Hello Mrs. Pathwarden."

"Hello Harry. Are you doing well? Got everything you need?" Angela said.

"Fine, thank you ma'm. I have everything, I checked twice before leaving the house."

"That's good, but if you have need of anything you can let me know, even if you just need an ear to listen."

"Yeah, mom's great to talk to. Everyone says so." I added. Harry smiled shyly.

"Thank you ma'm."

"You two best get on the train."

Angela hugged me and then hugged Harry good bye. Harry looked a little awkward, but happy nonetheless as he hugged her back. Then it was time to leave.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Journey from Platform 9 ¾

I helped Harry with his trunk, but it was still heavy, it looked like he packed all the way until it was barely able to close. We headed toward the compartment I had put my stuff in earlier. We passed Neville and his grandmother. I smiled when I heard Neville say he had lost his toad again.

"Want a hand?"

We looked up to see George coming out of one of the nearby compartments.

"Yes, please." Harry said.

"Oy, Fred, come help us."

It didn't take much effort with four of us to get the trunk in the compartment. I waited for the inevitable question as Harry pushed his hair back from his forehead.

"What's that?" Fred asked.

"Blimey, are you-?" George cut in.

"What?" Harry said, looking confused.

"Harry Potter." They said together.

"Oh, him, I mean yes, I am."

Fred and George stared at him until Molly's voice floated through the window from the platform.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

The twins left and Harry and I sat down. I could tell that Harry was watching the Weasley family. I smiled and did my best not to laugh at Molly trying to get a smudge off Ron's nose. Then Percy came out already in his robes and his prefect badge. All these things were familiar to me as a story, but it was something else to see them in reality. My reverie was broken when I heard Fred talking.

"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please…"

"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"

I knew what the rest of the conversation would be, so I turned my attention to other happenings on the platform. The train finally began to move and I could see Ginny running and waving at the train. Then the compartment door opened.

"Anyone sitting here? Everywhere else is full." Ron asked. Harry shook his head and I gestured to an empty seat. The twins came back again to tell Ron about Lee's giant tarantula and introduced themselves to Harry before leaving again.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron finally said.

I wanted to laugh, but I restrained myself. Harry just nodded.

"Oh, well I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes. And have you really got-you know…" Ron said, pointing.

Harry pulled back his hair and Ron stared.

"So that's where You-Know-Who-?"

"Yes, but I can't remember it."

"Nothing?"

"Well-I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."

"Wow."

Ron finally turned to me, looking embarrassed.

"Ron Weasley."

"Cheers, Damian Pathwarden." I said with a grin and a handshake.

"Really? People say your family just disappeared…"

He left the statement open. I knew he was hoping I'd elaborate.

"Just went traveling and exploring, that's all. My mom and I moved back here when I became of age to come to Hogwarts. She likes Albus' teaching style, so she wanted me to learn here."

"What about your dad?" Ron asked.

"He died when I was two."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Thanks."

Ron nodded and there was silence for a little while before Harry asked Ron about his family. Ron talked about his brothers and about never having anything new, including his animal.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff-I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's face turned almost as red as his hair and he tried to look casual by looking out the window, but the effect didn't quite come off as we were going through a tunnel.

Harry talked about how he didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. He told us about how he had never really had any money until recently. Before that he had to wear Dudley's old clothes and never had a proper birthday. I told them that even though my family had money, my mom was always making sure I knew the value of money, that I couldn't just go spending on whatever I liked. I told them that I figured she didn't want me to be stuck up like a lot of rich kids. Harry started to talk about how he didn't know anything about the wizarding world a month ago.

"…and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about becoming a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort-"

Ron freaked out as I knew he would about Harry saying the name Voldemort and Harry said that was just another thing that he didn't know about.

"I bet I'm the worst in class." He finished.

"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." Ron said.

"Plus, even being from a wizarding family doesn't mean that you know so much more than other students. Most kids from wizarding families don't start out knowing much more than those from muggle families when it comes to learning magic." I added.

We were quiet after that, just watching the countryside go by out the window. It wasn't too long before the compartment door opened and a nice looking older woman poked her head in.

"Anything off the car, dears?"

Ron muttered about the sandwiches his mom had packed him, but Harry and I got up and walked over to the cart. Harry got some of everything, but I never really had a liking for licorice or jellybeans so I skipped on the licorice wands and Bertie Bott's. Ron stared at us as we came in with our arms full, grinning, and dropped the lot on the empty seat.

"Hungry, are you?

"Starving." Harry said, going for a pumpkin pasty.

"Mmmhmm." I said, my mouth already full from a bite of a caldron cake.

It took awhile but we managed to convince Ron to help us make our way through our pile.

"What are these? They're not really frogs, are they?" Harry said, looking a little hesitant, holding a chocolate frog package by its corner.

Ron told Harry all about wizard cards and Harry got his first look at Dumbledore. I grinned when Harry told Ron that people stay put in muggle photos and Ron looked so perplexed at the idea.

"I have a camera that my mom got me though. It takes both muggle and regular photos." I thought it was funny to refer to moving photos as the regular ones. I brought out my camera and took a few pictures of all of us while Harry collected more wizard cards and we started trying different every flavor beans. Not being a regular jelly bean fan, not to mention an every flavor fan, I didn't try as much as Harry or Ron. Neville came by later still looking for his toad.

"He'll turn up." Harry said and Neville left to continue his search.

"Don't know why he's so bothered. If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

Ron told us about the spell he had tried on Scabbers and pulled out his wand to try it again. On cue, Hermione came in for the first time, trying to help Neville find his toad.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

Ron looked a little nervous and tried, but, of course, nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, its not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

I wanted to laugh again. My aunt had nothing on how fast Hermione could talk. Harry looked at Ron's stunned face and then looked at me. I smirked back at him and winked.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron said, not looking pleased at all to meet her. She nodded and turned her gaze on Harry.

"Harry Potter."

"Are you really? I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History_ and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_."

"Am I?" Harry said.

"Goodness didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me. Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad…"

Finally she looked at me. I smiled and took a deep breath.

"Damian Pathwarden, nice to meet you. However, I do have to remark that you seem very eager to judge other people's spell castings and haven't even started your first year at Hogwarts. Most people might consider that a bit rude. You might want to work on that some if you hope to be in a house known for noble actions like Gryffindor. Of course that's just my humble opinion."

She sniffed and looked away,

"Since this is your first year too, how is your opinion of spell casting any better than mine or your judge of House character?"

"I'm a magi autor and the Pathwardens have Gryffindor ancestory, so I do believe I just might have a better idea."

She sniffed again,

"You all had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

What that she left, Neville following after her.

"What's a magi autor?" Harry asked.

"It's sort of like a photographic memory, but with magic. Makes learning magic a lot easier. It runs in the Pathwarden line."

"I wish it ran in mine. Stupid spell – George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." Ron said.

"Maybe Scabbers just isn't the right type of rat for that spell to work properly." I said, which was technically true since Scabbers was an Animagius rat of all things.

"Maybe." Ron replied, looking slightly mollified.

"What house are your brothers in?" Harry asked.

"Gryffindor. Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"

"Yeah."

Harry asked Ron about his older brothers and since Bill works for Gringotts, this brought up the break-in at Gringotts the day before.

"Maybe they just don't want to mention what the thief was after because they're embarrassed anyone broke in at all." I ventured.

"Probably, the goblins didn't look too happy in the Daily Prophet. So, what your Quidditch team?" Ron said.

"Er – I don't know any." Harry said.

"Been out of the country too long to follow the teams." I said with a shrug.

"What!" Ron looked almost offended at this injustice of the world on Harry and me. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world –" And Ron was off on Quidditch. However as Ron was getting into the details of some of the best games he'd seen the compartment door opened and Draco came in, followed by his cronies. I knew by his face that Harry recognized Draco from the robe shop.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Rat Army Training

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So its you is it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle. And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron sniggered and I smirked.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

Draco sneered at me but didn't say anything, he turned his attention back to Harry.

"You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Draco said, offering his hand.

Harry didn't take his proffered hand, but just looked straight into Draco's eyes.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys, Pathwardens, and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you." Draco said, a pale tinge in his cheeks.

The three of us got up.

"Say that again." Ron said, red in the face.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Draco sneered.

"Unless you get out now." Harry said.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

I was waiting for it and sure enough, when Goyle reached out to grab a Chocolate Frog, Scabbers sunk his teeth into Goyle's knuckle. I couldn't help it anymore, I burst out laughing. Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco were so surprised by Scabbers that they ran off anyway.

"What has been going on?" Hermione said, coming into the compartment.

"Rat army training." I said without thinking.

Ron looked at me surprised, then at Harry, Harry looked at me and we all burst out laughing.

"I think he's been knocked out. No – I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep." Ron said, inspecting Scabbers.

That made the three of us laugh even harder.

"You've met Malfoy before?"

Harry told Ron about meeting in Diagon Alley and my interruption at the robes shop. Ron told us what he had heard about the Malfoy family. Finally he noticed Hermione still standing there.

"Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll get in trouble before we even get there."

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us." Ron scowled.

I added quickly,

"We told you, he's doing his part for the rat army. Now, we're going to change now and we don't mind you staying if you're not bashful."

I winked at her. She huffed and started to leave, closing the door she looked at Ron.

"You've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"

With that she closed the door. Ron scowled after her.

We changed into our robes and just finished putting our jackets in our trunks when we heard the announcement.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Harry and Ron looked nervous as we gathered up the last of the sweets in our pockets.

"Relax." I said, "Just follow the teachers' lead and we'll be fine."

The train stopped and we headed out. A lamp came out of the darkness and we heard,

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there Harry? Damian?"

Hagrid smiled down at us.

"C'mon, follow me – any ore firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

We followed along, keeping the lamp in sight, tall trees on either side blocked out most of the moonlight, but since Hagrid was so big, keeping the lamp in sight wasn't hard. Hagrid told us that our first sight of Hogwarts was coming up and when we came over the bend, sure enough, there it was, in all its glory. I had seen movie sets and book illustrations, but neither did real justice to the real thing. The stained glass windows, the turrets, and banners flying. It was beautiful.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called. Harry, Ron, and I got into a boat and Hermione came in, with Neville coming after her.

"Come on, the boats will carry five." I said to Neville.

Neville looked unsure, but got in with us, the boat sank down a little farther, but was fine. The boats moved off at Hagrid's command. When we landed, Hagrid had found Neville's toad, who gladly retrieved him and we walked up to the castle. Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Sorting Hat

The doors swung open and there was Professor Minerva McGonagall, looking stern and imposing as I expected. Still, it was something else to see the real people right there in front of you. The entrance hall was huge, but we could still hear the rest of the students in the Great Hall. We followed Minerva into a smaller chamber and she gave us her welcome speech, told us about the sorting, the Houses and left us to get the Sorting hat.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Harry asked Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred says it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

I laughed, "Its not a test. We go one by one to the front of the Hall, put the Sorting hat on and it decides what House we should be in based on our inner qualities."

"Inner qualities?" Harry said, looking nervous.

"Don't worry, its no sweat." I said.

Harry started to relax and then jumped when some of the first years screamed. Twenty ghosts had just come through the back wall, debating with one another about Peeves.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"

"Waiting for Professor McGonagall to come back for our Sorting." I said, trying to look natural. Even though I knew the ghosts were coming, it was still something of a shock to actually see them, much less talk to them.

"First years! Hope to see you in Hufflepuff. My old House you know." The Fat Friar said, smiling.

"Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." Minerva said, walking back into the chamber. "Now, form a line and follow me."

We got into a line with Harry behind me and Ron behind him. The line marched out of the chamber and into the Great Hall. It was amazing, the floating candles in the air, the four long tables for each of the houses, the staff table, and of course, the ceiling bewitched to look like whatever the weather was outside. I could hear Hermione whispering reading about it in _Hogwarts, A History_. I remembered in the stories that Harry had thought that maybe they had to pull a rabbit out of the Sorting Hat and I wondered if he had tried, would he have pulled out Godric's sword? I put it out of my mind though, because the Sorting Hat was getting ready to sing. I listened along to the Sorting song and thought it was kind of disappointing that the movies never put the song in. I applauded loudly with everyone else when the Sorting Hat finished. I wanted to laugh again when I heard Ron whispering,

"So we've just got to try on the hat! I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

I whispered back to Harry and Ron.

"Don't sweat, it'll be easy."

We quieted down because Minerva was already announcing the first name. I thought along with Harry when the first Slytherin was announced that they really did look like an unpleasant lot. I grinned when Hermione ran over and jammed the hat on her head and grinned even more when I heard Ron groan when she was announced a Gryffindor. The names kept on, I heard Parkinson and then,

"Pathwarden, Damian!"

I could hear some whispering as I stepped forward. I kept my head up, tried to look confident and sat on the stool, placing the hat on my head. I could hear it talking in my ear and thought how it sounded like a cross between Godric's and Salazar's voices from the histories that I had gotten from Angela.

"Hmmm…You are an interesting one. Not like the others are you? No, no, not at all. Plenty of knowledge, a sense of adventure, great skill, definitely, great. One place to put you. GRYFFINDOR!"

I got a loud cheer and as I sat down at the Gryffindor table I shook hands all around. After that it was the Patil twins and Perks, then finally it was Harry's turn. He looked nervous and I noticed his hands shook slightly as he put the hat on. Still it wasn't long before the hat shouted Gryffindor and Harry got an even louder cheer than me with the Weasly twins yelling 'We got Potter!' Harry sat down next to me, smiling and looking relieved. Ron however, looked almost sick by the time his name was called. However, it took less time than Harry or me for the hat to announce him a Gryffindor. Ron sat next to Harry, we heard the last student being sorted and everyone looked toward Albus. I laughed with others at his 'food speech' of nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak and then dug into the food with everyone else. I tried different things, but like Harry, kept my distance from the peppermint humbugs. Sir Nick introduced himself and was promptly insulted when Ron called him Nearly Headless Nick instead. I have to admit it was surprising to see him almost pop his head off after Seamus asked how he could be nearly headless. After that Nick told us how Gryffindor had never gone so long without winning and that Slytherin had won it six years in a row. I had to wonder if there had been any cheating involved on the part of the Slytherins but I kept it to myself. I did think it was funny when Seamus asked Nick how the Baron had gotten covered in blood and Nick reply was stammered. Then it was onto dessert and talk about family. I helped myself to some Jello and doughnuts while I listened to Seamus and Neville.

"What about you Damian?" Neville asked.

"My family line has all been wizards and witches. I know the _purebloods_," I stuck up my nose with that word and everyone laughed, "in my family married wizards and witches that came from Muggle families, but as far as I know, its been wizard blood all down the line." I shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. The others seemed pleased that I didn't seem too concerned with my ancestry. I continued listening to others talk about their families when I heard it.

"Ouch!" Harry put his hand to his scar.

As far as I could tell I was the only one that noticed he had put his hand to his scar, as opposed, to somewhere else on his forehead. I mused to myself though. I wondered if the mix of Voldemort looking out the back of Quirell's head and Severus looking at Harry had created the pain or if had really been Voldemort alone that had caused the pain. Did Severus' hate for Harry add in any way to Voldemort's power or presence? Or did it not at all because Severus' hate of Harry was based on someone else, James.

As far as I understood Severus hated Harry because he looked so much like his father. If it was just resemblance, is that why Severus hardly ever looked Harry straight in the eye? Because that was the one part of Harry that looked nothing like his father and everything like his mother? Was it really just a matter of appearances, could Severus really not look past Harry's appearance to see any of the qualities in him that came from Lily?

I wondered if Harry had been born a girl, had resembled Lily, would Severus have treated him entirely different? Would Severus have made allowances for the things the girl-Harry did that were like her father, simply because she looked so much like her mother? Finally I put my musing out of my mind for now to listen to Albus' start of term announcements.

When he mentioned the Forbidden Forest I made a mental note to explore there when I get a chance. Then came the announcement for Quidditch trials. That was also important for me. I was always surprised at the little quirks that happen in life, the little things that create the reality we live in. Alicia Spinnet had actually been deciding between Quidditch and another school club. She had based her final decision, after going through the pros and cons of each activity and everything else she could do to make her choice, to simply pick the choice out of a hat. With a little help from Angela, her choice ended up being the other club instead of Quidditch. So, the Gryffindor team was looking for a Seeker and a Chaser. I knew which one I'd be trying out for. I laughed along with Harry when Albus announced the third floor corridor out of bounds. Then was the singing of the school song.

For some reason I had the theme song to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe stuck in my head, so that's what I sang the school song to. After that we followed Percy to Gryffindor tower, with just a small interruption by Peeves. However, I remembered something Nick had said to the other ghosts. He said that Peeves wasn't even a ghost. If he wasn't a ghost, what was he? This was another of the many thoughts that came to me and I knew would continue to come to me as I lived the reality of being at Hogwarts instead of simply reading it. With this last thought in mind I went to bed.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The Potions Master

It really did take some getting used to navigate around Hogwarts. As with most magical dwellings, the inside was much bigger than it looked on the outside. It was only thanks to my own digital version of the Mauraders Map and the perfect sense of direction that had developed out of my new abilities that I didn't get lost like most first years. Even knowing where I was going unfortunately didn't lessen my run-ins with Argus Filch and Mrs. Norris and I was about as fond of them as the majority of the school. But the classes were the best. Because of the insomnia I used to have it wasn't hard to be up and awake for the Astronomy practical lessons at midnight. While I found Cuthbert Binns as boring as everyone else, I was able to stay awake and take notes easily enough. Even though Cuthbert's lessons lacked any real passion for the subject, I found magical history fascinating. With the active imagination I've always had it was easy to picture the history happening in my mind. As a result of my enthusiasm, I became the tutor that my first year classmates would come to when test time was near at hand in History. My other classes went really well. I impressed Filius with my natural ability in charms. Minerva got annoyed that I was slacking off until I changed my matchstick into a needle on the first try. I saw that Hermione looked annoyed because before I tried she had been the only one to get close to changing her matchstick. Quirrell's class was rather strange and it really did make me wonder about him. He didn't seem like too bad of a person. What had he been like before Riddle had gotten a hold of him? Had he been too curious? power hungry? Foolhardy? What was it that had changed him into the literally two-faced man he was today?

Anyway, I was right in what I had told Harry though. After the first couple of days Harry could see he wasn't far behind at all and that even kids from wizarding families did little better, if at all, than the Muggle-borns in class. Friday was an important day though, we had Potions with Severus. I wanted to watch his behavior toward Harry and see if it was based mainly on Harry's appearance. The morning post came in. I noticed that Harry got another letter, which I thought was from Hagrid. The only mail he had been getting before then was Angela asking about school so far and sometimes she'd send us cakes and cookies.

We made our way down into the dungeons, which definitely were creepy looking. Severus started off with his comments about Harry's celebrity status, his usual potions speech, and then attacked Harry with a question.

"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

I saw Harry glance at Ron, who shrugged and then at me. I stuck my tongue out and rolled my eyes back into a cartoon death look.

"Um…something to do with death?" Harry said.

Severus looked annoyed that Harry was able to answer at all, but still pleased nonetheless that Harry didn't know the exact answer.

"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Harry glanced at me again and I grabbed my stomach.

"The stomach?"

"Of what Potter."

"I don't know, sir."

"Thought you'd just open the book and flip through a page or two before coming, eh, Potter?"

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"  
>I made the nothing sign with my hands and Harry managed a smile as he looked at Severus.<p>

"Nothing, sir?"

Severus looked displeased, but simply turned his back on Harry.

"That 'something', as you put it so eloquently, that has to do with death happens to be a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is from the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons. Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

I knew that Severus wasn't happy that Harry had seemed to know something about potions. I also knew that Hermione was annoyed with me giving Harry answers behind Severus' back. The thing that helped the most was that I was invulnerable to legilimency, which meant that Severus couldn't tell that I was thinking of the answers with the intent of helping Harry. I suppose he could have still have found out from Harry, but I guess from his reactions he didn't try to. After that Severus told us to pair off to make a cure for boils from our textbook. I managed to pair up with Neville and help him out with the cure for boils, so Neville didn't melt anyone's caldron and, with a little help, did pretty well. I noticed that once someone gave him support and confidence, Neville did pretty well. I wondered how much of living without his parents had affected him. I noticed that even though we had a near perfect caldron of the boil cure Severus did nothing but make criticizing remarks to all the Gryffindors. He laid it on especially thick with Harry, scoffing at Harry and Ron's potion. Even though I had helped to avert any major disasters, Harry left with us wondering why Severus hated him so bad.

"Cheer up, Snape's always taking points off Fred and George for the stuff they pull off in his class. Can we come and meet Hagrid with you?"

"Yeah, don't pay any attention to Snape. He probably just dowsed himself with Draught of the Living Jerk."

Harry and Ron laughed as we left the castle and made our way down to Hagrid's hut. When Harry knocked we could hear Fang barking like mad inside and Hagrid trying to get him away from the door. The door opened a crack and we could see Hagrid smiling, even as he wrestled with Fang.

"Hang on. Back, Fang!"

He opened the door the rest of the way, holding onto Fang's collar.

"Hi Hagrid." I said as we came in.

"Hi Damian. Make yerselves at home."

"This is Ron." Harry said to Hagrid while he put a teapot on and put some rock cakes on a plate.

"Another Weasley, eh? I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

The rock cakes were really hard. Fortunately I knew a charm that softened the dough and ripened the raisins, so after discreetly tapping mine, Harry's, and Ron's we enjoyed them a whole lot more. We told Hagrid about our first lessons and I laughed and the others grinned when Hagrid called Filch "that old git."

Harry told Hagrid about Severus' lesson and Hagrid told him that Severus was like that with most of his students.

"But he seemed to really hate me."

"Rubbish! Why should he?"

I know Harry noticed and so did I that Hagrid didn't quite meet Harry's eyes when he said that. I wondered how much Hagrid knew of what was between Severus and James, and more so, what was between Severus and Lily.

"How's yer brother Charlie? I liked him a lot – great with animals."

Even though Hagrid changed the subject, I knew that Harry was keeping it in mind. While Ron told Hagrid about Charlie, I saw Harry pick up the Daily Prophet's article about the break-in at Gringotts.

"Hagrid! That Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"

Once again, Hagrid didn't meet Harry's eyes, he just offered us more rock cakes. I wondered how much Albus told Hagrid about the package he was picking up. Did he tell him that it was simply important or did he tell Hagrid that he was carrying the Sorcerer's stone? Most of what Albus did was motivated by his trying to make up for his past mistakes. He was working toward the greater good in an attempt to make up for his darker days. However, even the greatest of intentions can blind someone to do what is truly right. I wondered about Albus and his motivations sometimes.

However, that was just more of my musing as we ended our visit with Hagrid and made our way back to the castle. There were many things I wanted to do now that I was actually at Hogwarts.

I took time by myself to study in the library or to bring library books with me to the common room. I found it interesting that the history of the magical world was spotty in many instances. I thought it strange that those with magical means were no better at keeping a full and accurate history than those without magical means. Of course, with Angela's help it was easy for me to get the complete history of any event. But no matter where I got it the study of history of this world was exciting. I poured over ancient runes that those of the present had forgotten how to translate. I was able to unlock secrets that had laid hidden for time unknown. I began writing my own spellbook, separating it into sections for dueling, battle and wartime, healing, transfiguration, summoning, and I added sections as I thought of them. Of course I also put protection on my spell book to keep unauthorized people from reading it or from removing it from my possession.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Midnight Duel

A few days later a notice went up in the Gryffindor common room about flying lessons. I was about as pleased as most of the Gryffindors that we were going to be taking lessons with the Slytherins, but there wasn't much to do about it. The others talked about the flying they had done, but I kept my ability low key. I was still excited for our first day of lessons though. That morning when the mail came Harry and I received some really good spice cake from Angela and a barn owl brought a package for Neville from his grandmother.

"It's a Remembrall! Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red – oh… you've forgotten something…"

We all laughed a little when Neville's face fell at seeing the Remembrall turn red and I patted Neville on the back good naturedly. Draco was passing while Neville was trying to figure out what he had forgotten. He snatched the Remembrall out of his hand and Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. I turned in my seat and smacked the underside of Draco's hand with my fist. The Remembrall flew out of his hand and I grabbed it in the air. Draco started forward but Harry and Ron jumped up in his way. Crabbe and Goyle started forward but Minerva showed up before a fight broke out.

"What's going on here?" she said and I noticed that when she was annoyed her mouth really did look like a straight line.

"Malfoy tried to take my Remembrall, Professor." Neville said, eyeing Crabbe and Goyle.

"Just looking." Draco said, scowling as he walked away. Minerva stayed a moment more, looking at me and I knew that she was thinking about how fast and naturally I had moved to take the Remembrall away from Draco. She didn't say anything though and headed back to the staff table.

Later that day we headed out toward the Quidditch pitch for our first day of flying lessons. The majority of the Slytherins were already there, standing in a group near the brooms laid out in orderly rows. We had heard Fred & George say many bad things about the school brooms and by the look of them, I had to agree with their assessment. A few stragglers from Gryffindor and Slytherin showed up and on their heels was Madam Rolanda Hooch, the flying instructor. She really did have yellow hawk eyes. I wondered if that had come through natural means or through altering her appearance magically. I didn't have much time to wonder though, as soon as she stepped in front of the class she began.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

We situated ourselves down the row, I was next to Harry.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom and say 'Up!'"

"UP!" I commanded. It flew into my hand on the first command. I noticed that Harry's also did and a girl from Slytherin but I didn't see anyone else get it on their first try. I was pleased to see that Draco's took awhile to obey. After everyone got theirs to obey, Goyle, Hermione, and Neville were among the last, Rolanda showed us how to mount our brooms and walked up and down the rows checking our grips. I was proud when she commented that I had a very natural and experienced looking grip. Harry, Ron, and I exchanged grins when we heard her tell Draco he had been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly…"

I knew what was about the happen and I truly wished I could have spared Neville what was about to happen to him. But I had no way of seeing if Harry would try out, much less make the Quidditch team through the regular channels and it was important that he be on the team. When I went back through the events of Harry's adventures from first year to seventh year I was surprised to see how much depended on him being on the team. So I cringed inwardly as Rolanda counted down and Neville kicked off from the ground early, rose up in the air and then plummeted down to the ground. I winced when he fell, I could hear his wrist snap. Rolanda ran over to him, her face looking pale and worried.

"Broken wrist. Come on, boy – its all right, up you get."

Rolanda warned us about going off on the brooms on our own and then left with Neville to the hospital wing. After they left Draco burst out laughing. Eventually that started the confrontation between him and Harry. Draco picked up the Remembrall and lifted it up to catch the sun.

"Look! It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

"Give that here, Malfoy." Harry said.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find – how about – up a tree?"

"Give it here!" Harry yelled and Draco took off in his broom. Harry launched up in the air after him. He really did fly very well naturally I noticed. They exchanged words that I knew but we couldn't really hear from the ground. Then everyone saw Draco throw the Remembrall into the air. Harry took off after it and as he dived for it some of the Gryffindor girls screamed. He caught it just in time but I could already see Minerva coming out onto the field. She must have caught sight of the confrontation from one of the windows and seen the students without a teacher.

"HARRY POTTER! Never – in all my time at Hogwarts – how dare you – might have broken your neck –"

Some of the Gryffindors tried to tell Minerva what happened but she wouldn't hear it and since I knew she wasn't going to throw Harry out, I didn't say anything. Harry and her headed back into the castle. Draco looked triumphant and seemed about to comment when Rolanda came back sans Neville. Lessons started up again like normal. We practiced lifting off and landing and she started those of us that were more proficient on simple flying drills. I noticed that Hermione ended up having to stay with the group still working on lifting off and landing. She looked nervous and tense like she wasn't too keen on the idea of her feet leaving the ground. We didn't get into anything too complicated for our first lesson and eventually headed back to the castle for dinner. We headed up to Gryffindor tower to wash up and Harry was waiting in the common room for us.

"What happened?" Ron said, looking anxious.

Harry couldn't manage to keep in a grin any longer and simply said,

"I'll tell you over dinner."

We set a record on washing up and heading down to the Great Hall. Then, as we started eating, Harry told us everything that happened after he left.

"You're joking. Seeker? But first years never – you must be the youngest house player in about – "

"- a century. Wood told me."

"I hope I can make it on the team too even though most first years don't get in. I'm really hoping to land that open Chaser position. Still, you'll still have the record Harry, I'm a year older than you."

Ron seemed a little dubious about my chances, having never seen me play, but Harry was supportive.

"I start training next week. Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."

"Tryouts are the end of this week, so I'm guessing Wood wants you to start with the full team."

Fred and George came over and congratulated Harry in low voices.

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year. We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us. Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school." Fred said.

"Bet its that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you." George said. After they left Draco showed up at the table.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you."

I laughed and Draco flushed pink.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own. Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has. I'm his second, who's yours?" Ron said, pushing his plate away.

"Crabbe. Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."

"And I'm the alternate. And make sure you actually show up. I'd rather not lose any sleep because someone was too scared to come to his own challenge." I said with a smirk as Draco started to walk away.

"Then Goyle's mine. Don't worry about tonight. You won't lose your sleep over nothing Pathwarden." With that Draco took off back to the Slytherin table.

"What is a wizard's duel? And what do you mean, you're my second?" Harry said, looking a little nervous.

"Well, a second's there to take over if you die." Ron said, pulling his plate back toward him, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse anyway."

"What's an alternate then?" Harry said, looking at me.

"Usually there's only an alternate when there's a duel between families or organizations, where the alternate takes over after the second's killed and then the next alternate and so on. Not like I'll actually need to be an alternate, unless Malfoy tried to get his cronies to gang up on you."

"What if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"

"Throw it away and punch him on the nose." Ron said.

"Or knee him in the groin." I said, laughing.

Ron started to laugh and choked on his steak pie. Harry and I were patting him on the back when we heard a voice behind us.

"Excuse me."

It was Hermione, somehow managing to look annoyed and worried at the same time.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron said, still trying to clear his throat.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying –"

"Not likely." I added.

"Bet you could." Ron muttered, starting on his pie again.

Hermione flushed but was persistent.

" – and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."

"And its really none of your business." Harry replied.

"Let us know how you react when someone challenges you, expecting you to say no." I added.

"Good-bye." Ron said.

Ron didn't make it any easier on Harry though. He kept giving him dueling advice for the rest of the evening until I said something.

"Easy Ron. Harry got it on his mind enough. Whatever happens will happen."

Not long after that we headed up to the dorm rooms. None of us actually went to sleep though. We laid in our beds waiting for the others to fall asleep and counting down the minutes until it was time to go.

"Half-past eleven, we'd better go." Ron finally whispered.

We put on our robes, grabbed our wands and headed down to the common room. It looked empty as we walked toward the portrait hole when a voice came out of the nearest armchair.

"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."

A lamp came on and sure enough, there was Hermione in a pink robe and a disapproving glare.

"You! Go back to bed!" Ron said.

"I almost told your brother. Percy – he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

"We'll be back before too long and no one will be the wiser, or at least no one will be able to prove anything else. Don't get your knickers in a twist. That is, if you're wearing any under there." I said with a smirk.

Hermione blushed crimson, but wouldn't be deterred as she got out of the chair and followed us through the portrait hole.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"Go away." Ron said.

"Care about ourselves? You're the one going on about us losing your points, not Gryffindor's points, yours. You're just as selfish, so just go back to bed."

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so –"

Of course, the Fat Lady had gone off to visit a fellow portrait and Hermione couldn't get back in.

"Now what am I going to do?"

"That's your problem, we've got to go, we're going to be late."

We headed off, but we hadn't gotten far before Hermione caught up behind us.

"I'm coming with you."

"You are not."

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Flich to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

I rolled my eyes, "Even if we did back you up Filch doesn't trust a word that comes out of a student's mouth. You'd get the same punishment the rest of us did if we did actually get caught."

"And you've got some nerve telling us to back you up and –" Ron said, his voice rising.

"Shut up everyone! I heard something." Harry said, cutting in.

It was Neville, fast asleep and shivering on the cold stone floor. He woke up as we came closer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

"There's a story a teacher might believe. We got worried that Neville hadn't come back yet, we were going to look for him, you were in the common room reading and volunteered to help and after we found him we found that we were all locked out of the Tower. We're searching for a teacher to let us back in." I said to Hermione, "and the new password's 'Pig snout' Neville, but like I said, the Fat Lady has disappeared off in some other portrait, so you can't get back in right now."

Hermione just huffed and turned her back to me.

"How's your arm?" Harry asked.

"Fine. Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute. What's this about a story a teacher needs to believe though."

"Well, we've got to be somewhere, we'll fill you in later."

"Don't leave me! I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron looked at his watch and his face got almost as red as his hair.

"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned to use the Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about and used it on you."

Hermione went into know-it-all mode to tell Ron how to do it but Harry just hissed for quiet and we started on our way to the trophy room, our trio having become a quintet. When we got there, there was no one else around, we waited keeping our ears open and ready to run at a moment's notice.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out." Ron whispered.

"I knew I was going to lose sleep over a coward." I added.

Then all our senses jumped into overdrive when we heard a voice that didn't sound at all like Draco.

"Sniff around my sweet they might be lurking in a corner."

It was Filch and Mrs. Norris. We hid around the corner, hoping that Filch would just peek in, but instead he started heading down our way. We headed down another hall filled with suits of armor but as Filch got closer, Neville freaked and knocked right into a suit of armor. The resulting crash was deafening.

"Run!" Harry yelled and we took off, not stopping until we ended up near Charms.

"I think we've lost him." Harry said, still trying to catch his breath.

"I don't believe it. The little bastard probably got cold feet and decided to set us up instead. I swear by breakfast tomorrow everyone is going to know what a coward he is." I said.

"Let's go."

We started out way back to the tower when Peeves came out of a nearby classroom and squealed with a grin that the Greek god of mischief would have envied.

"Wandering around at midnight Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away Peeves please."

"Should tell Filch, I should. Its for your own good, you know."

I tried to warn Ron to keep his temper but it was too late, he took a swipe at Peeves and that was all it took.

Peeves went off like a bullhorn, "Students out of bed! Student out of bed down the Charms corridor!"

We took off past Peeves while he was yelling and ended up right in front of a locked door.

"This is it! We're done for! This is the end!" Ron yelled.

We could hear Filch's footsteps running toward the sound of Peeves still going off.

"Oh move over." Hermione said, grabbing Harry's wand as I pulled out my own. We said 'Alohomora!' at the same time and the door flew open. We jumped in and shut the door, listening against it to see if Filch heard our escape.

"Which way did they go Peeves? Quick tell me." Filch said.

"Say 'please.'"

"Don't mess with me Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please." Peeves said in a singsong voice.

"All right – please." Filch almost yelled.

"Nothing! Ha haa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha hahaha!" Peeves laughter faded off like he was leaving and Filch started cursing.

"He thinks this door is locked. I think we'll be okay – get off Neville! What?" Harry said, turned around to look at Neville.

"I think there's about three reasons he thought it was locked. I also think its time we left." I said as Ron and Hermione started to turn around as well.

We hadn't opened just any door. We had opened the door to the third floor corridor, the forbidden corridor. Standing in front of us was Filch's three reasons for thinking the door would be locked. A huge three headed dog stood there, drooling and staring at us in surprise.

We took off, slamming the door shut behind us and we didn't stop until we reached the entrance to the tower. We didn't see Filch the whole time, which meant he probably took off searching for us elsewhere. The Fat Lady had returned and was staring at the five of us, trying to catch our breath.

"Where on earth have you all been?"

"Pig snout!" I practically yelled before anyone else and we collapsed into chairs in the common room.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school? If any dog needs exercise, that one does." Ron said.

Hermione scowled, "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor? I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads." Harry said.

"No, not the floor. It was standing –"

"- on a trapdoor. It was guarding something." I finished.

Hermione nodded as she stood up.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

"Not in the least." I said.

"No, we don't mind. You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you." Ron said.

After that we headed back up to bed. I knew Harry was thinking that he knew where the package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was, but I was thinking even more. If Dumbledore truly wanted to protect the Sorcerer's Stone, why would he have a lock that could be opened by a spell as simple as Alohomora? Dumbledore has even said that there's little that happens in Hogwarts that he is not aware of. Did he take off a more complex protection spell on the door and leave it accessible enough for us to use Alohomora on it, knowing we'd be there? Did he want someone to be able to get in easily enough as to have to face Fluffy? Had Quirinus Quirrell been snooping around there, had disabled a more complex protection over the door and left it as easily opened for further easy access? It didn't seem to add up, but I knew I wouldn't be able to solve the question until later. I turned over and went to sleep.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Halloween

We knew that Draco couldn't believe it when we showed up in the Great Hall the next day, uncaught, unpunished, and simply tired. I made sure it also got around that Draco had cowered his way out of a wizard's duel with Harry and I was pleased to see him scowling at all the whispering and looks tossed his way from the other Houses. Having escaped unscathed we found it to have been an actually successful and fulfilling adventure and Harry, Ron, and I were ready for another one. Harry filled us in on the package and it having been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts. Neville and Hermione showed no interest in our discoveries and Hermione had further stopped talking to us, which we all took as a good thing.

Meanwhile, I was excited and a little nervous as try-outs had come up just two days after our adventure. Harry and Ron said they'd come with me to support me. A lot of other Gryffindors showed up to watch and I was surprised that even Hermione showed up to watch. I saw the Weasly twins, Wood, and Angelina Johnson already there in their team robes. I had almost forgotten that Katie Bell was in our year and would be trying out for an open Chaser position too. We started on basic drills, just passing the ball back and forth and throwing through the hoops. Then after the warm up came the real tryouts. I'll say one thing, chasers are really put through their paces to get on the team. We had to steal the ball from Angelina, avoid bludgers from the Weasley twins and score past Wood. I was the only one that managed to get a perfect run, but Katie did the next best. I could tell that I upset some of the upper years that were also trying out, but they didn't intimidate me in the least. At the end of try outs Wood announced that it was the first time in over a century that more than one first year had made it onto a Quidditch team. He didn't mention Harry and I knew he was trying to keep him a secret still. But I was overjoyed and I immediately talked to Wood after try-outs about if it would be allowed for my mom to send me my Nimbus 2000 at home. Wood's eyebrows went up slightly when I said that I had a Nimbus and he set off right after to talk to Minerva for permission. Luckily, she had been watching try-outs too and after speaking with Albus gave permission for me to bring my Nimbus to play on. The guys congratulated me and we headed back to the castle for lunch.

About a week after that Harry got his Nimbus in the morning mail. Since we couldn't unwrap it at the table, we headed out to unwrap it up in Gryffindor tower. Before we made it through the entrance hall we ran into Draco and his cronies. Draco grabbed the package and felt it through the paper.

"That's a broomstick. You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them."

Ron was just bursting and finally said, "Its not any old broomstick, it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty? Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

"What would you know about it, Weasly, you couldn't afford half the handle. I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."

Ron started to get red, but Filius showed up.

"Not arguing, I hope boys?" he squeaked.

"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor." Draco said, trying not to look satisfied.

"Yes, yes, that's right, Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir. And its really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it."

We managed to hold our laughter until we got near the entrance to the tower.

"Well, its true, if he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team…"

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" Hermione said, glaring at us.

I took the package from Harry and took on an innocent air as I spoke

"It feels like a reward," I said, crinkling the paper on the package, "it looks like a reward" I added, looking at the package with mock wide eyes, "by golly, it **is** a reward!"

Harry and Ron laughed at my display as I handed the package back to Harry.

Hermione seemed about to comment when Harry said,

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?"

"Yes, don't stop now, its doing us so much good." Ron said.

Hermione took off, trying to look superior and above our comments. We didn't have time to look at the broom so Harry had to stash it under his bed and we headed off to lessons. We ate dinner quickly and headed back up to Gryffindor to unwrap the broom.

"Wow." Ron said as we pulled the paper off it.

"You've got one at home?" Harry asked me.

"Yes, but I never get tired of looking at them." I said smiling. Harry grinned. That night Harry headed off to his introduction practice with Wood. Ron and I stayed in the common room and I helped him with his homework while I worked on my book of spells. I had already finished my homework. Eventually Harry came back from his introduction practice and told us about it while I helped him catch up with Ron on homework.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months as we did homework, practiced spells, and Harry and I attended Quidditch practice three evenings a week. I thought it interesting that they didn't dress up on Halloween. Was it because the things that most people dressed up as were too normal to the wizarding world? In any case on Halloween day everyone could smell baking pumpkin in the corridors. I wondered if I could convince the house elves to let me into the kitchen to make pumpkin empanadas. I laughed when Ron and Harry looked mystified when I said empanadas. I guessed they didn't get many students from Mexico or even Spain at Hogwarts. I told them that if I was able I'd make some and they could try them and see if they liked them. By then we had already made it into Charms and we turned our attention to Filius. We learned that we were going to try to make objects fly and he put us into pairs. I got paired up with Neville but I didn't mind. I found that Neville was actually a pretty good wizard when he had the support of someone behind him. I almost laughed though at the faces both Ron and Hermione made when Filius paired them up. I could hear her in the background while I coached Neville on doing the spell.

"You're saying it wrong. Its Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long." Hermione told Ron.

I smirked to myself and continued helping Neville, who was getting discouraged. Hermione was the first one to do it, but by the end of class I had gotten mine to zoom around the classroom, a couple of others had gotten there's to float the next row over and Neville got his to float over his head. Unfortunately Ron wasn't able to get his to float by the end of class which didn't improve his mood any. He grumbled to us as we walked out of class.

"Its no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Hermione knocked into Harry as she was walking by. I could see that she had tears in her eyes.

"I think she heard you."

"So? She must've noticed she's got no friends." Ron said, but he looked uncomfortable.

"I know, but maybe we should take it easy on her for awhile." I added. Harry and Ron nodded and we headed off to our next class. She didn't show up for History of Magic or for the rest of the afternoon. While we were walking to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast we heard Parvati telling Lavander that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom. Ron looked more uncomfortable, but seeing the Halloween feast for the first time was enough to drive almost anything else out of a person's mind. We were about halfway through the meal when Professor Quirrell came running into the hall, looking terrified. He actually did a pretty good acting job I mused to myself. He reached the staff table, stopped in front of Professor Dumbledore and said,

"Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know."

Then he passed out. Almost everyone in the Hall flipped out. Albus fired off several purple firecrackers and finally everyone quieted down.

"Prefects lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Percy sprang into action like a wind-up toy.

"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"How could a troll get in?" Harry said.

"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid. Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

Harry grabbed Ron's arm and Ron grabbed mine.

"I've just thought – Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know there's a troll loose." I said.

Harry nodded and Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right. But Percy'd better not see us."

We slipped in with the Hufflepuffs going the other way, then slipped down a deserted corridor before heading toward the girls' bathroom. We had just started the right way when we heard footsteps coming up quick behind us.

"Percy!" Ron hissed and we ducked behind a stone griffin. We peeked out from behind it, but it wasn't Percy coming down the corridor, it was Severus. He walked down an adjoining corridor and we heard his footsteps fade away.

"What's he doing? Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?" Harry whispered as we walked out from behind the griffin.

"Search me." Ron said.

"I don't know, but we can puzzle that out later." I added, but Harry was already walking to look down the corridor Severus walked down.

"He's heading for the third floor." Harry said and started forward to follow him.

Ron stopped him and tilted his head back slightly.

"Can you smell something?"

The smell reached us seconds after it hit Ron. It really was a god awful smell. It was like a busy port-a-pottie and filled litterbox kind of smell. Following the stench was the sound of low grunting and something big being dragged forward. Ron pointed and we could see something coming into the corridor from the shadows, something huge. We moved back into the shadow next to the griffin and watched it come into the light. The dragging sound actually came from the troll shuffling his huge feet forward. His stubby legs had spiky knots all over them, he had a huge body, like a big man with a beer belly multiplied by twelve. Its skin was the color of oatmeal that had been left out for days, a kind of cream grey and just as lumpy. If it didn't smell so awful and look so imposing, the tiny head perched on top would have been comical. The head was about the size and shape of a dragon's egg, a kind of pointy top on his head with a scraggly ring of hair around it like some kind of demented halo. It dragged a huge club in one hand. It didn't look like it was dragging it because it was heavy, but simply because it had huge gorilla arms that were so long that dragging it came naturally. The troll stopped about halfway down the corridor and looked into an open door. It looked up the corridor again and then back into the room. It finally grunted and shuffled into the open room.

"The key's in the lock. We could lock it in." Harry said.

"Good idea." Ron said.

"Are you sure?" I said.

Harry and Ron looked at me like I was crazy.

"Why not?" Ron said.

"What if someone's in that room?"

"I think we would have heard someone react if a troll just walked into the room they were in by now."

"You never know, that person could be asleep or in a part of the room that they can't see the entrance."

Then, while we were still arguing a high, piercing, and petrified scream came from the room Harry and Ron were going to lock.

"Oh, no." Ron said, looking white as a sheet.

"It's the girls bathroom." Harry gasped.

"I told you." I said.

The three of us looked at each other. "Hermione!" we all shouted at the same time and sprinted for the bathroom, jumping inside. Hermione was flat against the far wall, looking like she was trying to make herself seem as small as possible. The troll was grunting and walking toward her, sinks in its way shattering into pieces.

"Confuse it!" Harry yelled and grabbed a tap lying on the floor. He threw it against the wall next to the troll. The troll stopped its advance toward Hermione and turned to see the source of the new sound. It finally focused on Harry and started toward him, raising its club up.

"Oy, pea-brain!" Ron yelled and threw a pipe at it. The pipe didn't seem to raise as much a reaction as the sound of Ron's voice. It focused on Ron and started toward him instead. Harry ran over to Hermione, trying to get her to run for the exit with him, but she was rooted to the spot, her mouth open and her eyes wide. It was getting a little too close to Ron for comfort, so I pulled out my wand and shot a flash spell at it. It hit it square in the eyes and it roared, starting toward me and swinging its club. There was a reason that I was the youngest Chaser in over a century. As it swung the club, I jumped on the club and flipped off. It tried another swing and I slid under that one, but I lost the grip on my wand and it went clattering off into a corner. The troll was raising up its club for another swing when Harry ran over and jumped on the troll's back. It didn't react to Harry jumping on him, it reacted to Harry's wand going up its nose. It roared even louder and began swinging the club wildly and dangerously close to Harry. Hermione had sunk to the floor and Ron saw me trying to find an opening to get past the troll to get to my wand. He pulled out his own wand and yelled the first thing that came to his mind.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew out of the troll's hand and rose high into the air, turned with the big end toward the troll and dropped straight down on the troll's head with a sound like a walnut being cracked next to a microphone. The troll swayed and then fell forward, the impact shaking the ground and driving us to our feet. I got up first and retrieved my wand. Harry was getting up, shaking and trying to breath deeply. Ron was sitting on the floor, his wand still pointed at the troll, a look of amazement on his face. Hermione broke the silence.

"Is it – dead?"

"I don't think so. I think its just been knocked out." Harry said, bending over and pulling his wand out of the troll's nose. It was coated in grey goo, like homemade paste.

"Urgh – troll boogers."

Harry wiped it on the troll's trousers. The door slammed open and I turned toward it with my wand raised on instinct. Someone must have finally heard the racket of the battle with the troll. Minerva, Severus, and Quirinus rushed in. I gave a nervous laugh and lowered my wand. Quirinus looked at the troll, whimpered and sat down on the sole toilet still standing. Severus looked at the troll and then looked at Minerva. She looked pissed, her lips were pressed together so tightly that the color had gone out of them.

"What on earth were you thinking of? You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?" Her voice was colder than liquid nitrogen. Ron had managed to stand up and finally lowered his wand.

Severus gave Harry a piercing look and Harry put his head down. Severus then looked at me suspiciously. I turned my gaze to Minerva.

Hermione spoke, her voice sounding small in the aftermath.

"Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione got off the floor, "I went looking for the troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them."

Ron dropped his wand, but no one seemed to notice, even in the complete silence that followed Hermione's pronouncement. After all, it was Hermione, telling a rather unconvincing lie to a teacher.

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Damian blinded it, Harry stuck his wand up its nose, and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

We tried to look as if this was exactly the way things had happened, most of it was true, at least.

"Well – in that case…Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" Minerva said, her gaze sweeping the four of us.

Hermione just hung her head. Hermione seemed the last person to do anything against the rules and yet she was pretending she had. It was funny, just because as seeming the last person to break a rule made her story all the more believable.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione glanced at the three of us as she left, her gaze lingered on me before she turned out the door. I wondered what that was about, but put it out of my mind for the present as Minerva turned to us.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

We took off without a word and didn't say anything until we got near the tower.

"We should have gotten more than fifteen points." Ron grumbled.

"Ten, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's." Harry said.

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"We almost locked her in too." Harry pointed out.

"Still, we did head over there with the intention of warning her about the troll." I added.

"What troll?" the Fat Lady said as we reached the portrait.

"Pig snout." We all said, ignoring her.

The common room was packed with students still celebrating the feast. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for us. There was an awkward silence for a bit then we all simply said 'thanks' and walked into the common room together to get plates. Hermione sat with us and we all knew by silent agreement that she was not just a friend, but part of our group now. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Quidditch

October turned into November and the weather became very cold. The mountains took on an icy grey cast and the lake froze to a steel color. It hadn't started snowing yet, but every morning there was frost on the grounds. We could see Hagrid from the windows in Gryffindor tower defrosting the school brooms on the Quidditch field, wrapped in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and huge beaverskin boots.

Even though Wood tried to keep Harry, as the new Seeker, a secret word still managed to leak out. Still hardly anyone had seen Harry in action yet. Harry got a lot of flack from other students, while some told him that they were cheering for him or that he'd be brilliant, others expected him to fall off his broom before halfway into his first match. I thought it was interesting that no one really said anything to Katie or me even though we were first years too. Maybe Seekers just get that much more scrutiny or maybe it was because he was Harry Potter. Hermione really did help Harry and Ron with the workload we had taken on. I been helping them with their homework, but with Hermione there helping too it went by that much faster. It going by faster was especially important with Wood springing last minute extra practices on us as our first match drew closer.

Angela sent me my Nimbus about a week before our first match. She had it redone in Gryffindor colors like the professional Quidditch teams did with their brooms. Everyone thoughts the color scheme was really wicked. Katie asked me if she could take it out for a bit after practice. I saw no reason why not and let her. She giggled as she took off like a shot and I thought she was very cute in that moment. She didn't take it out for too long though and she gave it to me with red in her cheeks that I thought had little to do with the wind. I smiled back at her and we headed up to the common room together. Hermione lent Harry the _Quidditch Through the Ages_ book she had checked out before flying lessons. Harry read interesting facts out loud to us after he had finished his homework. I was working on my book of spells and Hermione was helping Ron with his Transfiguration essay.

The day before our first match we were out in the courtyard during break and it was freezing. Hermione had conjured up a bright blue fire that could be carried around in a jam jar. We were standing with our backs to it getting warm. I had figured out a warming spell but it had a limited range, mainly around the caster. I was working on extending it in a half sphere so it would warm all of us, but we used Hermione's jar fire for now. Severus came into the courtyard from the opposite side and we noticed that he was limping. We moved close together to block the fire from view in case it wasn't allowed, or at least in case Severus decided it wasn't allowed. I noticed Hermione had pressed closer to me than was probably necessary, but I brushed the thought off, nevertheless I didn't move away from her either. I wondered how often Severus used Legimiancy because it seemed like he read the guilty feelings and limped over to our group. He couldn't see the fire but he looked at us, trying to find something to go on about.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?"

Harry raised up the copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_.

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school. Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."

"He's just made that rule up." Harry muttered, glaring at Severus' back as he limped off, "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him." Ron said.

Hermione and I nodded in agreement.

That night we sat together next to one of the windows looking out onto the grounds. Hermione was checking Harry's Charms homework and I was checking Ron's. I could tell Harry was restless though, he kept fidgeting. I knew he was nervous about the match tomorrow. I finally said something.

"What's up, Harry?"

"I think I'm going to go ask Snape for Quidditch Through the Ages back, I'm in the school again, so he can't say no."

"Better you than me." Ron and Hermione said. I simply shrugged and went back to checking Ron's homework. I was using a quill that I had charmed so I could write notes on what needed work and as soon as Ron corrected it, the notes would disappear. Hermione had finished checking Harry's work and had buried herself in a large volume from the library. I finished my last notes and handed it back to Ron so he could work on it. Ron grumbled his way through the corrections while I reached for my spell book. I was writing out the heating spell that I had worked out earlier when I felt myself being watched. As I glanced up I saw Hermione's head go down to her book. I looked around but didn't see anyone else watching. I smirked to myself and went back to my book. I had finished writing out two more spells when Harry came back.

"Did you get it?" Ron asked, still looking over his homework. When Harry didn't answer right away he looked up. "What's the matter?"

Harry was slightly out of breath and his eyes were wide. He glanced around and then told us how he had seen Snape with his injured leg and that he had been talking about the three headed dog with Filch.

"You know what this means? He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! That's where he was going when we saw him – he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick he let that troll in, to make a diversion!"

Hermione dropped her book and her eyes went wide.

"No – he wouldn't. I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something. I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?" Ron snapped.

"I'm not so sure guys."  
>Ron and Harry looked at me in disbelief.<p>

"I'm not exactly saying that he's innocent. But I'm not totally convinced he's guilty either. Snape definitely will not qualify for teacher of the year anytime soon or person of the year, but his personality is so blatant that it makes it hard to think he's really the one."

"What?" Ron said, looking confused.

I laughed a little, "I'm saying that because Snape is the way he is and acts the way he does makes him seem too obvious. Anyone would suspect him and someone that's easy to suspect doesn't exactly make a good thief. Maybe Snape went to the third floor because someone did let the troll in as a distraction and the third floor would be the obvious place to go while everyone's distracted. For all we know Dumbledore told him to go check out the third floor."

Harry and Ron looked puzzled at this new theory, Hermione looked disturbed. I put my spell book down.

"In any case, we really don't have enough information to know what's going on. We should be careful before we start making any assumptions is all I'm saying. We should probably get some sleep though, its going to be a big day tomorrow."

Harry nodded and we headed up to bed. Even though he had agreed with me that we didn't have enough information I knew that he wouldn't fall asleep right away. I didn't either.

It dawned a bright day despite the cold. The Great Hall smelled wonderful with the scents of breakfast and was loud with the sound of everyone looking forward to the first Quidditch match of the season.

"You've got to eat some breakfast." Hermione told Harry.

"I don't want anything."

"Just a bit of toast."

"I'm not hungry."

Meanwhile I pulled a pastry and some juice toward me and started in.

"Harry, you've got to let go of that stress in your stomach and eat something." I said, putting some sausages on my plate.

"Harry you need your strength. Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team." Seamus said.

"Thanks Seamus." Harry said.

"That's not what I meant. But you do need some energy, Harry. Take a deep breath and get some toast and sausages." I said, giving Seamus a dirty look.

Seamus just shrugged and put more ketchup on his sausages. I got Harry to eat a little, but before long we left the Hall and headed out to the locker rooms to get ready. Wood cleared his throat to begin his pre-game speech while we were changing into our Quidditch robes.

"Okay men."

"And women." Angelina said.

"And women. This is it."

"The big one." Fred interrupted.

"The one we've all been waiting for." George chimed in.

"We know Oliver's speech by heart, we were in the team last year." Fred said to Harry and me.

"Shut up you two. This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it."

He glared at us and we all got the 'Or else' hint.

"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

Harry and I headed out behind Fred and George.

Rolanda was playing referee this match; she was already in the center of the field, holding her broom.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you."

I noticed a significant look she gave to Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain. He did actually look kind of troll-like. I could see the Gryffindor banner that Ron, Hermione, Dean, and I had worked on that said Potter for President. I noticed that Harry finally saw it too and he looked like he relaxed some.

"Mount your brooms please."

I got onto my Nimbus, waiting for the signal.

Rolanda blew her silver whistle and we took off into the air.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaster that girl is, and rather attractive too –

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry Professor."

Lee Jordan was doing the commentary for the match, with Minerva looking on sternly.

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Damian Pathwarden, a first year and is he quick on the broom or what. Back to Johnson and – no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up – he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle. That's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field, and, I don't believe it! Daiman Pathwarden pushes a Bludger out of her path by hand! Wow! Quaffle goes to Johnson, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

I could hear the cheers from the stands. I shook my hands out a little in the small break. They stung a little from colliding with and pushing the Bludger away from Katie, but I was okay. I took a deep breath and dived back into the match. As I passed the Quaffle to Angelina from the Gryffindor side of the stands I could see Hagrid joining Ron and Hermione. I shot past and caught the Quaffle passed from Katie. I dodged a Bludger and two Slytherin Chasers, did a feint toss to the left goal post and shot it off to the middle. Bletchley couldn't recover from the feint in time and we scored. As I looped around to go after the Slytherin Chaser I could see Harry higher up, circling the field and looking for the Snitch.

"Slytherin in possession. Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

I could hear a reaction from the crowd and saw the Snitch flit by Pucey's ear. He was so surprised he dropped the Quaffle. As I dived to recover it I could see Harry out of the corner of my eye, diving after the Snitch. The rest of the Chasers got caught up in looking at the two Seekers going after the Snitch and I had a clear field to the goal posts. I scored without difficulty and as I looped back around I heard a roar from the Gryffindor stands. I just saw the end of Flint blocking Harry and Harry spinning off, holding onto his broom.

Rolanda blew her whistle and spoke to Flint, then awarded us a free shot. The Snitch had disappeared from view though.

"So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –"

"Jordan!" Minerva growled.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul –"

"Jordan, I'm warning you –"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Pathwarden, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

Then it started. I had just passed to Katie when I saw Harry's broom start to flip out.

"Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes by Pathwarden – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherins score – oh no…"

The Slytherins were cheering, but I couldn't see that anyone else had really noticed what was happening to Harry. As the cheering died down people began to notice that Harry's broom was going haywire. Everyone gasped when it almost bucked him off and I heard a few screams when it jerked around and Harry hung on by one hand. Fred and George tried to get to him, but every time they got close the broom jumped higher, so they stayed beneath him, just in case they needed to catch him. Flint took the Quaffle and scored three times before I noticed and took the Quaffle away, scoring four more times before the jinx was broken and Harry was able to get back on his broom. There was a just an instant flash of gold and Harry speeded off toward the ground. Then he clapped his hand to his mouth and dropped off his broom onto the ground, he coughed and the Snitch fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" Harry shouted, waving it above his head. Gryffindor erupted into shouts and cheers. Rolanda checked the rule book, but Harry hadn't broken any rules by the way he 'caught' the Snitch. Lee was shouting the score out over and over, Gryffindor had won by one hundred and eighty five points to fifty-five. Harry and I didn't hear most of this though, we had gone with Ron and Hermione to Hagrid's hut, where he was making us a cup of tea.

"It was Snape, Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you." Ron said.

"Rubbish. Why would Snape do somethin' like that?" Hagrid said.

We all looked at each other and I nodded to Harry.

"I found out something about him," Harry said, "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think it's possible," Harry glanced at me, "that he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot.

"How do you know about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" Ron said, looking aghast.

"Yeah – he's mine – bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year – I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the –"

"Yes?" Harry said.

"Now, don't ask me anymore." Hagrid said, trying to pick up the pieces of the teapot, "That's top secret, that is."

I helped Hagrid by repairing the teapot with my wand.

"But Snape might be trying to steal it."

"Rubbish. Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So, why did he try and kill Harry?" Hermione said, seemingly now convinced that Severus was guilty, "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid said. "I don't know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn't try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh – yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel –"

"Aha! So, there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?" Harry said.

Hagrid looked furious with himself and dropped the teapot again. I sighed and pulled my wand back out.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The Mirror of Erised

Christmas was on its way to Hogwarts. I knew I was going to stay at the school with Harry and Ron over holiday. I gave the excuse that my mother was heading to Japan to deal with some family business, so I had to stay behind. It was somewhat true at least; while I was at school Angela traveled around the HP world in both location and time. She gained more knowledge about the world, its history, its secrets, its magic, both known and lost. And all that she learned she passed on to me. I knew spells that had been lost and forgotten, many of these had made their way into my spellbook. But that was a constant process.

Meanwhile, I was also trying to figure out what to get Harry, Hermione, and Ron for Christmas. I wanted to be known for something unique, but not extravagant or anything. But I eventually dismissed my musings and just enjoyed the change of season. It was especially noticeable for me since I came from a desert region. I wasn't used to so much snow or the cold. I made do with a few warming spells though. Even still, by mid-December the school was covered in several feet of snow. I actually saw Quirinius get upset for the first time when Fred and George bewitched snowballs to bounce off the back of his turban. They got detention and didn't try it again after that.

I wondered sometimes about the magical world. The common room and the Great Hall had huge roaring fires that made the temperature quite comfortable. But the corridors, classrooms, and especially the classrooms in the dungeons were freezing. Since the magical world didn't use technology, there was no such thing as central heating, which definitely would have made things a lot more comfortable. This is something the muggle world definitely had over the magical. Still I was warm enough in my warmth sphere. Everyone else huddled close to their hot caldrons in Potions. Draco was going on about the people that signed up to stay behind for holidays.

"I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." Draco said, looking over at Harry. Grabbe and Goyle laughed like a good television audience.

Harry ignored them and continued with his potion. I spoke up though.

"I do feel even more sorry for those people whose parents let them come home all for appearance sake when they would rather had never had children." I said looking straight at Draco.

A pale tinge rose in Draco's cheeks and deepened when Harry and Ron laughed. Even though Severus favored him, Draco still wasn't going to go as far as a direct confrontation in class. He finally just sneered at me and turned back to his caldron. I hope that comment would shut Draco up for at least awhile. After Slytherin had lost the Quidditch match Draco had been mad and had tried to get people laughing by saying a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker. He got even more mad when no one really found this funny and instead were impressed with Harry for being able to stay on his broom while it tried to buck him off and still manage to catch the Snitch. So Draco had gone back to his old staple, saying that Harry had no proper wizarding family.

I knew Harry had no problem at all staying here for holidays, he had been one of the first to sign up when Minerva came around with the list. Ron told us he and his brothers were staying too because his parents were going to visit Charlie in Romania.

We finished Potions class and came up out of the dungeons to find a huge fir tree blocking the corridor. We could see two large feet in beaverskin boots sticking out under the tree. It was pretty evident who was moving the tree.

"Hi Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

Just then, we heard Draco's annoying voice behind us.

"Would you mind moving out of the way? Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose – that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron moved forward to dive at Draco, but I grabbed him and held him back.

"Let him talk Ron. That's all he really can do. Sides, people know that it's better to be a good person with a little less than a family of shitheaps with a little more."

Draco's eyes widened at my profanity and he started forward. Conveniently, Severus came forward from the stairs.

"What's going on here?" he said, glaring at us.

"Malfoy was insultin' Weasly's family Professor Snape." Hagrid said, sticking his face out from behind the tree.

"Be that as it may, it seems things were escalating here and fighting is against Hogwarts rules. Be grateful I don't take any points away. Move along, all of you."

Draco, Vincent, and Gregory pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and Draco aimed one last poison glare at me before walking off.

"I'll get him," Ron said as I let go of him, "one of these days, I'll get him –"

"I hate them both, Malfoy and Snape." Harry said.

"Cheers to that." I added.

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas. Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat." Hagrid told us.

So we followed Hagrid, still carrying the tree, to the Great Hall where Minerva and Filius were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put it in the far corner, would you?" Filius told him.

The hall really did look amazing. There was real holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls and twelve huge Christmas trees. Some of the trees had tiny icicles, some had glittering snowflakes, others had hundreds of real candles.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked us.

"Just one," Hermione said, coming up behind us, "And that reminds me – Harry, Ron, Damian, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right." Ron said, watching Filius decorate the latest tree with golden bubbles coming out of his wand.

"The library? Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?" Hagrid said, following us out of the hall.

"Oh, we're not working. Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is." Harry said, grinning.

"You what? Listen here – I've told yeh – drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'." Hagrid said, shocked.

"We just want know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all." Hermione said.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble? We've must've been though hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere – just give us a hint – I know I've read his name somewhere." Harry added.

"I'm sayin' nothin'." Hagrid said, crossing his huge arms.

"Just have to find out for ourselves then." Ron said.

Hagrid looked disgruntled as we headed off to the library. We had been searching ever since Hagrid said Nicolas's name. We had figured that if we knew who Nicolas was we'd have a better idea of what Fluffy was guarding and therefore what Severus, if it was Severus, was trying to steal. While the three of them held out that it was definitely Severus, I told them that I wasn't totally convinced it was him. I said that Severus could have just as easily have been saying a jinx to keep Harry on his broom while someone else could have been saying one to knock Harry off. The others didn't think so, but they at least kept in mind the idea that Severus just might not be the thief. When we got to the library we all branched off. I was going through the index of recent famous people in the magical world, Hermione had just taken down a list of books that she thought might be likely to contain him if he was notable, Ron was picking out books at random, and Harry had wandered over to the restricted area. After he didn't come back I told the others and guessed that he probably got thrown out by Irma Pince, the librarian, for wandering too close to the restricted section. So, after Hermione and I checked out a book each, we left the library to find Harry. He was waiting in the corridor outside the library and he looked up, hopeful, as we came into view. The three of us shook our heads.

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you? And send me an owl if you find anything." Hermione said.

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is. It'd be safe to ask them." Ron said.

"Very safe, as they're both dentists." Hermione replied.

"Nice one Ron." I said and we all, Ron included, laughed.

Hermione left the next day and honestly, once the holidays started it was easy to forget about Flamel and just have some fun. Harry, Ron, and I had the first years dorm to ourselves and the common room was much emptier, so it was easy to get the good armchairs by the fire. We had fun eating anything we could put on a toasting fork and stick in the fire. Sweet bread, English muffins, marshmallows, hot dogs. We talked about teachers and how we might be able to get Draco expelled, even if the plans wouldn't really work.

In the evenings I'd work on my spellbook and Ron started teaching Harry how to play wizard chess. I did well enough with it and played Ron sometimes, and sometimes I won, but chess wasn't really my game. Harry played with my chessmen, who were patient and gave sound suggestions, so Harry was able to learn quickly.

On Christmas morning we all woke up to a warm fire already started and a pile of packages in front of our beds.

"Merry Christmas Harry, Ron." I said.

"Merry Christmas." Ron yawned at us.

"You too. Will you look at this? I've got presents!" Harry said.

"What did you expect, turnips?" Ron said, turning to his pile.

"You don't think we'd leave you to the generosity of your aunt and uncle do you?" I said with a wink.

Harry grinned and turned to his pile. Angela had sent him a jacket in Gryffindor colors with the House crest embroidered on the back with the word 'Seeker' over it and his Quidditch number on the front left side, a beautiful new quill, and a hefty gift certificate to a really nice Muggle clothing store with a message on the back that said 'No more of Dudley's old duds, love Angela Pathwarden', and more of her famous spice cake. The jacket was magic too. It would keep him warm no matter what the weather, it could change colors and designs if Harry needed to disguse himself for whatever reason, and it would not tear, snag, or stain. Angela had sent him a little note, telling him what the jacket did. He grinned and blushed over the fact that Angela had sent him presents and Ron thought the jacket was wicked. He opened Hagrid's gift and then the god awful 'gift' from his aunt and uncle of a whole fifty pence that he laughingly gave to Ron when he exclaimed over the Muggle money.

After that was my gift. It was a wax stamp set with a white gold personalized stamp and cream parchment stationary. I had given one to him and one to Ron. Harry's had a H with a snitch making the middle of the H on the seal and Ron's had a calligraphy 'W' on his. They were magic sets. The seal could only be used by them and the seal could only be opened by them and their intended recipient. Hermione wasn't there but I had gotten her a blank spell book of her own with a beautiful key to lock it. The key could be worn as a necklace and I had included a silver colored chain with it. The chain looked silver, but it was much stronger than silver and wouldn't tarnish or dull. I had noticed Hermione looking at my spellbook a few times when I had put it off to the side while going through my textbooks, so I thought she might enjoy a spellbook of her own.

I also included in each of their presents a package of bischos that I made myself. After getting to know the house elves and convincing them to let me bake empanadas during Halloween, I had decided to bake bischos for Christmas. After I watched Harry and Ron open my present, I finally turned to my own pile of presents. I noticed that Angela had sent me a fair amount, maybe making up for the fact that in this world, she was my only family. I saw that I had presents from Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Hagrid had also sent me a present and I was surprised to see a gift from Ollivander. Curious, I opened the gift from Ollivander first. In it were two leather and hematite bracelets and a letter. The bracelets were definitely for a male, but they were beautiful all the same. I put them down and opened the letter.

Mr. Pathwarden,

It was only after you left that I remembered these items. These belonged to the wizard Magnus, one of the best known duelists of the ancient age. He was also skilled in dualism, which is why there are two bracelets instead of one. While they look only like regular bracelets, they expand to be a wrist harness for a wand each. A flicker of thought and the wand will slip from the wrist harness into your waiting hand. The bracelets themselves do offer some shielding protection, much as the hilt of a sword does. But I'm sure you or your mother could add additional and stronger protection to them. I cannot say what the future holds for you, I claim none of my ancestor's seer abilities, but nevertheless, something told me that you'd be a more well-suited owner for these items than I. A Happy Christmas to you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ollivander

I just stared at the letter for a few minutes. I couldn't believe it. I finally just smiled and put the bracelets on my wrists.

I was torn away from my musing by Ron's gasp. I turned away from Ollivander's letter and saw Harry standing over his father's invisibility cloak on the floor.

"I've heard of those. If that's what I think it is – they're really rare, and really valuable." Ron said.

"What is it?" Harry said, picking it up off the floor and looking at the material.

"It's an invisibility cloak. I'm sure it is – try it on."

"Ones like that are even more rare." I added while Harry tried it on.

"It is! Look down." Ron said.

Sure enough, Harry looked down and couldn't see anything below his head.

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked me.

"Well, from what my mother told me, invisibility cloaks are difficult to make, the process of weaving the physical cloak together with the magical essence you're giving it said to be near impossible for most. So, most cloaks don't last long before they start showing wear in the weave, the pattern is usually haphazard from the person trying to concentrate on the magic while they're weaving, and the shine is usually spotty from places the enchantment didn't take as well. But yours…the weave looks really tight, the shine is the same color all over, and the lines of the weave are perfectly straight. This was made by a master."

"There's a note! A note fell out of it!" Ron said.

Harry pulled off the cloak and grabbed the letter on the floor.

Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

Of course there was no signature. Harry and Ron didn't recognize the handwriting and I feigned ignorance.

"I'd give anything for one of these, anything. What's the matter?" Ron said.

"Nothing." Harry answered. But I knew he was thinking about the fact that his father, who he never really got to know, had once held this cloak.

Just then the door was flung open and Fred and George bounded in. I stepped in front of their line of sight of Harry while stuffed the cloak out of sight.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look – Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!"

Fred and George had matching blue sweaters, except one had a 'F' and the other a 'G'. I noticed that they were wearing each other's sweaters, probably on purpose to confuse people more on who was who.

"Harry's is better than ours, though. She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family." Fred said, holding up Harry 's sweater and inspecting it, Harry grabbed it back with an embarrassed grin.

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron? Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm." George demanded.

"I hate maroon." Ron said while he pulled his sweater on.

"You haven't got a letter on yours. I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid – we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"But you're wearing each other's sweaters." I said with a wry grin.

Fred turned around, surprised and then smiled.

"Oy! Geroge, someone that can actually tell us apart. Maybe we aught to have Damian teach Mom."

"What's this? Wow, where did you get this?" George said, holding up Harry's new jacket.

Harry grinned, "Damian's mom made it for me."

Fred gaped, "She made it?"

I pulled out mine and showed it to them.

"Yup, she made them…by hand."

Fred and George looked impressed.

Fred noticed the gift I gave to Ron.

"Look at this George. Fancy! How did you end up with the rich friends?" Fred said, looking at Ron.

Ron's ears turned red and he swiped the stamp set away from Fred.

"What's all this noise?"

Percy stuck his head through the door, holding a sweater over his arm, which Fred promptly seized.

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're wearing ours, even Harry got one."

"I – don't – want –" Percy struggled to say as the twins forced the sweater over his head.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today either. Christmas is a time for family." George said.

Fred and George waited for us to finish opening presents while they bumped Percy back and forth while he struggled to get the sweater down from covering his head. Harry had got me a book on the history of phoenixs, Ron got me a pack of caldron cakes, and Hermione sent me a brand new quill and a leather bookmark for my spellbook. Angela had sent me a jacket just like Harry's except with 'Chaser' on the back with the house crest and my number, 12, on the front. She had sent me new clothes, a SD card of music, which the twins and Ron found amazing that I had thousands of songs on that little chip. She also sent me some new fiction books from my world, and something that I didn't even expect, but which everyone thought was really exciting. She sent me a bow and a quiver of arrows. Not just any kind either, but I recognized this as being from the Lorien forest, in the Tolkin dimension. There was a note stuck to the nock of one of the arrows from Angela.

I've already spoken to Albus and you have been granted permission to practice this in the field near the forest or in the old greenhouses area as long as you're careful.

Love,

Mom

I smiled and felt warm. Even though I loved the adventure I was undertaking, I was still in a world where there was no one familiar. Angela had done as best as she could to make me feel like there was still someone close to me. I shook my head slightly to clear my musings and since Percy had finally managed to get his sweater on properly, even with the twins, we headed out of the dorms.

I decided to wait to start on my archery practice and we instead played in the snow, throwing snowballs, making snow men that marched around, and snow angels that actually flew, well more like hovered. That night, the Christmas dinner was amazing. There were roasted turkeys of all kind, honey, rotisserie, BBQ, blackened, all sorts. There was roast meat, potatoes boiled, mashed, all types. There was roast sausages, which they called chipolatas in England, all types of vegetables, cranberry sauce, and all sorts of things. Also there were stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These were not the regular kind with the cracker jack like prizes. These went off like fireworks and gave real prizes, like the kinds you get at amusement parks for the really hard games. I was wearing a black US Army officer's hat that I had gotten from a cracker I had pulled with Ron. I noticed that Dumbledore had switched his wizard hat for a flowered bonnet and tried not to laugh. After that was another new experience for me, flaming Christmas pudding. It was kind of like flan in texture, you could serve it in slices and it was actually pretty good. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle, Ron managed to find his with his fork so he didn't bite down on it, and I found a silver anchor in mine. I laughed with Harry and Ron when Hagrid ended up getting really drunk and kissed Minerva on the cheek. It was funnier still when Minerva giggled and blushed. When we finally left to the tower, we were all laden down with new things from the crackers. Harry got, among other things, a pack of non-explodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. I got a pack of balloons too, my own card deck for Exploding Snap, a US Army officer's hat, and a pirate hat.

The next day we headed out for a furious snowball fight that lasted for hours. Then, wet with snow and sweat we sat in front of the fire in Gryffindor tower and Harry broke in his new chess set by losing something awful to Ron. I think he had been doing better with my chess set's advice instead of Percy's but I kept that to myself. We had leftover turkey on sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, which is like a fruit version of tres leches, and Christmas cake. We watched Percy run after Fred and George trying to get his prefect badge back. After that I played a few Christmas songs on my violin and led some Christmas song singing while playing my guitar. Finally, warm, comfortable, and happy we all headed to bed. I fell asleep almost immediately.

"You could have woken me up." Ron said crossly, after Harry told us about his nighttime adventure the next morning.

"Not with the way you sleep." I said, laughing.

Harry laughed too, "You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror."

"I'd like to see your mom and dad." Ron said.

"Me too." I said, but already knowing I wouldn't.

"And I want to see all your families, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone." Harry said, looking at me and at Ron.

"You can see them any old time. Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"

"Yeah Harry, you'll get to see your parents again tonight, you should eat and get out and about in the meantime.

"Are you all right? You look odd." Ron said to Harry.

That night we wandered around for at least an hour before Harry was able to find the classroom again. I watched as first Harry gazed into the mirror and then Ron. Unknown to either of them, I had been here before Harry discovered it. I had been interested in what I might see in the mirror. But Angela had granted everything I wished for, so when I stepped in the mirror, I saw myself just as I was and nothing else. The Mirror of Erised held no allure, no binding power over me. However, I knew the power and the danger of the mirror; it was made to test and to drive mad those that could not truly live life, but simply existed in it. It was made of a material that existed in several dimensions. I knew the dimension of Fantasia, where the Neverending Story took place, had such a mirror as one of the tests to reach their most powerful oracle. While I had been thinking Harry and Ron had gotten in an argument over who was going to look into the mirror next. Eventually their arguing got too loud and we jumped under the cloak when we heard a sound. Mrs. Norris came inside and looked around for awhile before she left again. Figuring that even though she didn't find anything, she might bring Flitch anyway, we left back to the tower, Ron and I pulling Harry out of the room.

Over the next few days Ron and I tried to get Harry interested in doing other things, but he had been caught up in the subtle spell of the mirror. Honestly, I didn't try as hard as Ron to break Harry out of it. I knew that Albus would find Harry there and be able to break him out of the spell much easier than anything Ron and I could do at the time. Indeed, after Harry talked with Albus and the Mirror was moved elsewhere, Harry began to enjoy the holidays again. However, the vision of his parents must have broken the wall of some of his repressed memories. Harry would tell Ron and I sometimes about dreams he had with his parents disappearing in a flash of green light and a high voice laughing. Ron and I did our best to distract Harry.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Nicolas Flamel

While I spent plenty of time hanging out with Harry, Ron, and sometimes the twins, I also spent time practicing my archery. Harry and Ron sometimes came with me when I practiced archery. I had started to teach the both of them archery too. I played music whenever I was out practicing, but it was the music from my dimension. Harry never had a radio when he had lived with the Dursley's and the only thing that his Aunt Petunia played was the really, really, easy listening station. Ron had grown up used to the single major radio station of the magical world, so they both got something new out of the music I played. Not that we didn't spend time in the common room. We would still toast food over the fire, play wizard chess, exploding snap, and I even taught them Pictionary. We had to ban the twins from playing on the same team though, it was too easy for them to guess each other's drawings. I played my violin or my guitar sometimes and I worked on my spellbook.

I noticed that most wizards and witches memorized the words of magic, but knew little about the mechanics of the language of magic. All those things that went into building the words and phrases of magic seemed to be passed over in study, the alphabet, particles, the building of words and phrases. But I had studied the magical language and I could even converse in it fluently. It made my ability to create my own spells even easier.

During the holidays I started to consider what I planned to do over the summers. I thought about constructing a time turner to use during summer. That way I could have an actual break and do some magic internships at the same time. I wanted to spend time working at St. Mungo's, to learn from Zonko, to apprentice with Madam Malkin, to study with Ollivander. I wanted to gain as much knowledge of this dimension as I could. Through this journey I felt I could gain experience and wisdom far beyond just the seven years at Hogwarts.

Hermione came back a day before term started up again. We filled her in on our adventures and she displayed shock, awe, and surprise in all the right places. I noticed that she was wearing the key on the silver chain that I gave her. She blushed when she thanked me for the gift. I thanked her for the spellbook items and assured her that I had already begun using both the quill and the bookmark. She was disappointed that we didn't find Flamel though. We spent our class breaks looking through books in the library. Harry insisted that he had read the name somewhere, but still couldn't remember where.

As term got back into full swing Harry and I had even less time to look as Quidditch practice started up again. Wood was flipping out as usual, so we practiced for hours, even in the rain. It was after one really awful and muddy practice that Wood told us that Severus was going to referee our next match. George fell off his broom at the announcement.

"Snape's refereeing?" he said, trying not the swallow the mud he landed in. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."

The rest of the team started to complain too.

"Whoa!" I shouted and everyone stopped, surprised.

"I doubt there's anything we can really do to change the fact that he's refereeing. We're just going to have to do our best regardless." I said.

Wood nodded, "Damian's right. We've just got to play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."

Harry was looking very nervous by the time we left practice. We headed straight for the common room. We got there in only a couple of minutes and found Ron and Hermione engaged in a game of wizard chess, one of the few things that Hermione wasn't very good at. Needless to say, we encouraged her to play. Ron was deciding on his next move when he caught sight of Harry's face.

"What's the matter with you? You look terrible."

Harry told Ron and Hermione about Severus's decision to referee the next Quidditch match.

"Don't play." Hermione said without pause.

"Say you're ill." Ron said.

"Pretend to break your leg." Hermione added.

"Really break your leg." Ron said.

"I can't. There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."

Right then the portrait door opened and Neville toppled into the common room. We could tell right away that he had been hit with the Leg-Locker Curse. It must have taken him forever to jump through the portrait hole. Most everyone laughed except for Hermione and I. She reached for her wand, but with the new bracelets from Ollivander, mine flicked from my forearm into my hand in a second. I performed the countercurse and Neville fell over as his legs released their locked position. He got to his feet slowly, his legs shaking. Hermione led him over to sit with us.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Malfoy. I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on.

"Go to Professor McGonagall! Report him!" Hermione said.

Neville shook his head, "I don't want more trouble."

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville! He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier." Ron said.

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that." Neville said, choking.

"That's not what Ron meant. What he and what we all mean is that we know that you're stronger and better than Malfoy can ever hope to be. You just need to stand up to him and show him that." I said.

Harry gave Neville the last of his Christmas chocolate frogs.

"Yeah Neville, you're worth twelve of Malfoy. The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin."

Neville managed a small smile as he unwrapped the frog.

"Thanks guys. I think I'll go to bed. D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you Harry?"

Neville handed Harry the card and walked off, looking more confident than he had before. Harry looked at the card.

"Dumbledore again. He was the first one I ever –"

He stopped and gasped, his eyes wide. He looked at the three of us.

"I've found him! I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before. I read it on the train coming here – listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!"

Hermione jumped to her feet, looking excited, "Stay there."

She ran off to the girls dorms and Harry and Ron shrugged at each other while we waited. She came back only moments later holding a large book in her arms.

"I never thought to look in here! I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"Light?" Ron said, which only got a shushing sound from Hermione as she started flicking through the pages. She gave a small sound of triumph when she found the page she was looking for.

"I knew it! I knew it!" she whispered loudly.

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" Ron said, grumpily. Hermione just ignored him.

"Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

It didn't have quite the effect she was hoping for.

"The what?" Harry and Ron said together.

"Naturally." I said, smacking my forehead as if it had been something I had simply forgotten.

"Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look – read that, there."

She pushed the book toward us and we read the passage she pointed at:

_The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal._

_There have been many reports of the Sorcerer's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)._

"See? The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!" Hermione said.

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying! No wonder Snape's after it. Anyone would want it." Harry said, looking amazed.

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardy. He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?" Ron added.

Harry and I laughed but Hermione only gave him a withering look.

The next morning in Defense Against the Dark Arts, I was half listening to Quirinus lecturing about surviving different monster attacks, writing notes on treating werewolf bites, and listening to Harry and Ron talk about what they'd do with a Sorcerer's Stone if they had one. When Ron remarked that he would buy his own Quidditch team I could tell Harry was thinking about Severus and the upcoming match.

"I'm going to play. If I don't all the Slytherins will think I'm just too scared to face Snape. I'll show them…it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win." Harry told us.

"Just as long as we're not wiping you off the field." Hermione replied.

"Nice Hermione." I said, sarcastically.

She blushed, but didn't say anything else.

However, the days flew by and the date of the match drew closer and closer and I could tell that Harry was feeling more and more nervous, despite his saying otherwise. Not that the rest of us were that calm either. If we won this one we'd have enough House points to overtake Slytherin in the House Championship, not to mention being even closer to the Quidditch Cup. The thought was wonderful, but the possibility of it happening was hard to consider with such a biased referee. It didn't help either that Severus just happened to be around more often than usual. I was able to help Harry enough during Potions that Severus was only able to make small snide comments and the like instead of really heaping it on Harry, but it still didn't make things much better. The three of them wondered if somehow Severus had found out that we knew about the Sorcerer's Stone. I did sense Severus using very light legilimency and finding out about the Sorcerer's Stone from the others, but I also sensed surprise when he hit a brick wall in my mind. He gave me a perplexing look the next time we ran into him, but he didn't say a word.

The next afternoon was the day of the match. Ron and Hermione wished us good luck, but they did a bad job of looking hopeful and it didn't seem to comfort Harry in the least. I just told Harry I'd keep an eye on things for him as we changed into our Quiddtich robes. Wood pulled Harry slightly aside, but I could still hear him.

"Don't want to pressure you, Potter, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Snape can favor Hufflepuff too much." Wood told him.

"The whole school's out there! Even – blimey – Dumbledore's come to watch!" Fred reported to the rest of the team, peering out of the door.

"Dumbledore?" Harry said, running over to see for himself.

Nobody else noticed, but I could see the relief in Harry's face. As the team walked out onto the field we could see that Severus didn't look too pleased either. I knew that Severus had offered to referee the match to watch over Harry, but I knew that that didn't mean he wouldn't favor Hufflepuff at the same time. Nevertheless, he repeated the standard rules before a match began, the whistle blew and we were off. I had barely been able to score a point before Severus awarded Hufflepuff a penalty shot because George supposedly hit a Bludger at him. It wasn't long before he awarded them another shot for a long winded reason that basically amounted to that he didn't have a reason.

I had just passed off to Katie, who made the goal when Harry went into a spectacular dive. I could hear both gasps and cheers from the crowd. I watched as Harry shot past Severus and grabbed the Snitch. At the same time I noticed the scuffle between Ron and Neville against Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle and Hermione dancing around in her seat, cheering for Gryffindor.

I joined the rest of the team rushing down to Harry, who was already on the ground, the Snitch held aloft in his arm in triumph. Severus looked shocked and upset, then turned and walked off, spitting bitterly on the ground. I saw Albus walk over and talk to Harry for a moment, then melt back into the crowd. By then the whole of Gryffindor had reached the field and had lifted Harry onto the their shoulders. Hermione rushed forward and hugged me, still cheering. Ron was cheering through a heavy nosebleed that I fixed for him with my wand and Neville managed to cheer through an eye that was beginning to blacken and a swollen lip. Finally the team managed to get back to the locker room, except for Harry who was still being carried around. The rest of the team left to dinner, but I stayed behind to wait for Harry. Harry finally managed to get away from the crowd and back to the locker room. He was ecstatic, I could see it in his face. We simply smiled at each other though and walked out to head back to the castle. We were by the broom shed when we stopped at the sight of a hooded figure walking down the steps of the castle and toward the Forbidden Forest, trying to keep to the shadows. We looked at one another and Harry mouthed one word, 'Snape'. I nodded and we jumped back on our brooms and took off after him. We lost him at first with how thick the trees were until we were low enough that we heard voices. Harry and I landed noiselessly in a beech tree and made our way through the branches, trying to get close enough to make out the words of the voices. We saw that the other voice we had heard was Quirinus, stuttering worse than ever.

"…d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus…"

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private. Students aren't supposed to know about the Sorcerer's Stone, after all." Severus replied, his voice icy.

Harry and I shared another look and leaned forward. We could hear Quirinus muttering something about 'not the foggiest' but Severus interrupted him.

"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I –"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell." Severus said, taking a step closer to him.

"I-I don't know what you –"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

An owl hooted loudly and Harry slipped, I grabbed him and helped him to steady himself. When we turned back Severus was finishing a sentence.

"- your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't –"

"Very well. We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decide where your loyalties lie."

Severus threw the hood of his cloak back over his head and walked off. Quirinus stood quite still for awhile before muttering to himself and walking off toward the castle from a different direction. Harry and I looked at each other again and mounted our brooms. With a glance around to make sure that neither Severus or Quirinus was coming back, we headed off to the castle.

"Where have you two been?" Hermione squeaked.

"We won! You won! We won!" shouted Ron, thumping Harry and I on the backs. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville actually took on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed. He even gave one of them a black eye and the other a busted lip. They gave him the same, but still Madam Pomfrey fixed him right up. Talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you two in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens."

"Never mind that now. Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this…"

We found an empty classroom, made sure Peeves wasn't hiding somewhere inside and shut the door behind us. Then Harry told them what he'd seen and heard.

"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy – and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus' –I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spells that Snape needs to break through –"

"So mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione said in alarm.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday." said Ron.

"Wait, wait…let's not jump to conclusions." I said.

The three of them looked at me unbelieving.

"Something about this just doesn't add up. Harry only heard the last of the that sentence 'your little bit of hocus-pocus.' But I heard the first part of it too. He said, 'why did you try to kill him with your little bit of hocus-pocus.' I'm telling you something about this just doesn't add up."

The three of them looked stunned at this new bit of information. I could tell they were all wondering the same thing. Why would Severus accuse Quirinus of trying to kill someone?

"I just feel like there's something we're missing. Snape seems way too guilty and Quirrell seems way too innocent."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Like I said last time, Snape looks guilty, he's too easy to blame as the thief. A good thief would go out of their way not to attract attention. And Quirrell just seems too innocent to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He's got to be stronger than he appears or Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him. It just feels like there's something he's hiding."

"You don't think they're working together." Ron said.

"Why's that?" Harry said, looking surprised.

"Its just that maybe Severus is trying to steal it, but he's not alone. Maybe he's working with Quirrell and Quirrell just isn't working fast enough to suit Snape." Ron said.

The others looked like they were considering this new hypothesis. It was a logical argument with the information we had.

"Its definitely possible, but I still feel like we're missing some information here. Something just doesn't fit right. I think we'll just have to keep an eye on both of them until we really know what's going on." I said.

The others nodded and we left the classroom to Gryffindor tower.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Norbert The Norwegian Ridgeback

Still not sure what was going on we tried to keep an eye on both Severus and Quirinus. We noticed Quirinus got paler and thinner, but other than that he remained his usual self. Every time we'd pass the third floor, when no one was looking one of us would knock and put our ear to the door to hear if Fluffy was growling. Severus seemed in his usual temper, which meant, as far as we knew, that he hadn't gotten the stone yet.

Hermione had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing up study schedules and color coding all her notes. We didn't pay much attention until she started nagging us to do the same.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away." Ron said as we sat together in the common room one evening.

"Ten weeks. That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel." She snapped.

"But we're not six hundred years old. Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all." Ron replied.

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"

True to form for the end of the year the teachers piled so much homework that the Easter holidays were nowhere near as relaxing for most as the Christmas holiday was. I was glad of the knowledge and skill I possessed that made the homework easy and quick for me. Still I spent my time with the others in the library, helping to get all of us through our extra work.

"I'll never remember this." Ron said, throwing down his quill in disgust as we sat in the library one afternoon. He looked longingly out of the library window where the sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue and there was the first smell in the wind of summer coming.

I was helping Ron with his Transfiguration, Harry was looking up Potions ingredients, and Hermione was going over her Charms notes.

We looked up as Ron said, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He didn't do subtle very well I thought. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'. An' what're you lot up ter? Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?" His shifty look and voice got us interested at once.

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," Ron said impressively, "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St –"

"Shhhh!" Hagrid said, looking around to see if anyone else heard. No one else did though. Everyone was too busy on preparing for their exams. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact, about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy –" Harry said.

"SHHHH!" Hagrid said, with another glance around. "Listen – come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh –"

"See you later, then." Harry said.

"Bye Hagrid." I said.

Hagrid shuffled off.

"What do you think he was hiding behind his back?" Hermione said, looking at me. I arched my eyebrow in question. She directed the question at the three of us, but she looked at me. I noticed that she did that sometimes.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" Harry said.

"I'm going to see what section he was in." Ron said. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: _Dragon Species of Great Britian and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide_."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me the first time I met him." Harry said.

"But it's against our laws. Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania." Ron said.

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" Harry said.

"Of course there are. Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget." Ron said.

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" Hermione said.

When we knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut an hour later, we were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed.

Hagrid called, "Who is it?"

"Its us." I said.

He let us in and then shut the door behind us as soon as we were in. It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made us tea and offered stoat sandwiches, but none of us were hungry.

"So – yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes. We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy." Harry said.

Hagrid frowned at us.

"O' course I can't. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here." Hermione said in a warm, flattering voice.

Hagrid's beard twitched and we could tell he was smiling.

"We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you." She continued.

Hagrid's chest swelled at these words and we beamed at Hermione for her clever thinking.

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that…let's see…he borrowed Fluffy from me…then some o' the teachers did enchantments…Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall – Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somthin' o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?"

"Yeah – yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

We looked at one another and we were thinking the same thing. If Severus had been in on protecting the Stone, he must have been trying to find out how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew most of it – except if he and Quirinus weren't working together, Quirinus' spell, and if they were working together, just how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" Harry said. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except for me an' Dumbledore." Hagrid said proudly, his chest out again.

I smiled, but wondered how much Albus had really done for Rebeus to get that kind of loyalty from him.

"Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling." Harry said.

"Can't, Harry, sorry." Hagrid said, with a glance at the fire.

We all looked over at it too.

"Hagrid – what's that?" Harry said.

We all already knew what it was though. In the heart of the fire, under the kettle, was a huge, black egg.

"Ah, That's – er…" Hagrid stammered, fiddling nervously with his beard.

"Where did you get it, Hagrid? It must've cost you a fortune." Ron said, crouching near the fire to get a closer look at the egg.

"Won it. Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'." Hagrid said, pulling a large book out from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library – _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit_ – it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on em' see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognize diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them.

He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house." She said.

But Hagrid wasn't listening to us. He just hummed to himself as he stoked the fire.

If we didn't have enough to think about, we were still puzzling out the details surrounding the Stone, preparing for our exams, and now worrying about what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life." Ron sighed as we sat in the common room making our way through all the extra homework we were getting. Hermione had started making study schedules for Harry and Ron, which drove them nuts. After I turned the first two schedules she gave me into moving origami cranes she stopped making them for me too.

A few days later at breakfast, Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid. It only had two words: _It's hatching_.

When Harry told us Ron said we should skip Herbology to go down to Hagrid's hut, but Hermione was totally against it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get in trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing –"

"Shut up!" Harry whispered.

Draco was only a few feet away and had stopped in his tracks to listen. You could tell by his face that he had heard enough to interest him. Ron and Hermione continued arguing, albeit quieter, all the way to Herbology and we finally agreed to visit Hagrid's during morning break. So when the bell sounded from the castle at the end of the lesson we dropped our trowels and hurried over to Hagrid's. Hagrid greeted us at the door looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out."

We rushed inside and Hagrid shut the door after us. The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

We all drew chairs up to the table and waited and watched.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the entire egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't the prettiest thing I had ever seen. It was jet black and looked odd with its huge bat-like wings and its skinny lizard-like body. It had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes like a lemur.

It sneezed and some sparks flew out of his nose. I thought to myself I'd hate to be around one if it had a cold.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head and it snapped at his fingers showing pointed, straight fangs, like a vampire.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" Hagrid said.

"Hagrid, how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?" Hermione asked, eyeing the dragon hesitantly.

Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face – he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains – it's a kid – he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry and I bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking that sickly blonde hair.

Draco had seen the dragon.

During the next week a smile lurking at the edges of Draco's mouth kept the others nervous. I'm not sure why he didn't tell on Hagrid right away. I figured that it was only because he was trying to figure out a way to get us in trouble along with Hagrid. We spent most of our free time that week in Hagrid's hut, trying to reason with him to do something with the dragon.

"Just let him go. Set him free." Harry urged.

"I can't. He's too little. He'd die." Hagrid said.

We all looked over at the "little" dragon. It had grown three times its birth size in only a week. There were thin trails of smoke constantly furling out of its nostrils. Hagrid hadn't been keeping up with his gamekeeping duties because the dragon kept him so busy and the grounds were starting to show it. There were empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"I've decided to call him Norbert. He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?" Hagrid said looking at the dragon with misty eyes.

I rolled my eyes and groaned but Hagrid didn't even notice.

"He's lost his marbles." Ron muttered to us.

"Hagrid, give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment." Harry said loudly to make sure Hagrid heard him.

Hagrid bit his lip, "I – I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Harry suddenly turned to Ron.

"Charlie." He said.

"You're losing it, too. I'm Ron, remember."

"No, your brother." I said.

Harry nodded, "In Romania, studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"Brilliant! How about it, Hagrid?" Ron said.

And in the end, Hagrid agreed that we could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.

The following week seemed to drag on like taffy. Wednesday night found Hermione, Harry, and me sitting alone in the common room, long after everyone else had gone to bed. Hermione was nodding off on my shoulder and Harry was going through his Potions homework. The clock on the wall chimed midnight and the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared a moment later, pulling off Harry's invisibility cloak. He had pulled the midnight shift out of the hat, so he had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crateful. I gently shook Hermione awake as Ron walked over.

"It bit me!" he said, showing us his hand, wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

"Ease down Ron before you wake someone." I said.

Ron huffed and slumped into a chair. There was a tap on the dark window.

"It's Hedwig!" Harry said, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

As Harry came back with the letter we gathered close to read it together.

Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter – I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie

We all looked at each other after reading the note.

"We've got the invisibility cloak. It shouldn't be too difficult – I think the cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."

It was a mark of how bad the past week had been that we all agreed right away. Anything to get rid of the problem of Norbert – and Draco.

There ended up being a hitch. By the next morning, Ron's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size. He didn't know whether it was safe to go to Poppy – would she recognize a dragon bite? By the afternoon, though he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It turned out that Norbert's fangs were poisonous. I helped him to the hospital wing while the others took off to make excuses in class.

We rushed up at the end of the day to check on Ron. He wasn't in good shape.

"It's not just my hand." He whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me – I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me – I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he'd doing this."

I shook my head, "Ron, he would have done this even if you had acted like his best friend. Draco's just that kind of a person."

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday." Hermione said, but this didn't soothe Ron at all. On the contrary, he sat bolt upright and broke into a sweat before groaning and falling back into bed.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no – oh no – I've just remembered – Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

We didn't get a chance to answer. Poppy came over and made us leave saying Ron needed sleep.

"It's too late to change the plan now." Harry said to Hermione and me. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that."

I was wondering how we'd settle which one of us would go since the cloak would only fit two of us and Norbet. I didn't have to worry though. We practiced and found that it would have to be Harry and Hermione. I was too tall for it to work with Harry, me and the crate with Norbert in it. We headed down to tell Hagrid. We found Fang the boarhound sitting outside with a bandaged tail when we went to tell Hagrid, who opened a window to talk.

"I won't let you in." he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage – nothin' I can't handle."

When we told him about Charlie's letter, his eyes filled with tears, but then again it just might have been because Norbert had just bitten him on the leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, he only got my boot – jus' playin' – he's only a baby, after all."

The "baby" banged its tail on the wall, making the windows rattle. We walked back to the castle feeling Saturday couldn't come quickly enough.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The Forbidden Forest

On Saturday night I wished them good luck in the common room and sat down to wait for them to return. It took longer than it should have for them to meet Charlie and his friends. I knew what happened though. Neville came in first and didn't even notice me. He simply walked straight from the portrait hole to the dorm rooms. Harry and Hermione came in a little later looking horrible. Hermione threw herself on the couch next to me and buried her face in my chest. I looked up at Harry as I held her.

"What happened? Did Norbert get loose in the castle?"

Harry sat down and told me the whole story in a low, monotone voice. Hermione fell asleep with me holding her halfway through the story, exhausted from crying. After Harry finished the story there was silence for a few moments and then he looked at me.

"What did we do?"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my free hand.

"You saved Hagrid from losing his job, kept Albus's trust in him intact, saved the students from Norbert breaking out of Hagrid's hut and possibly hurting someone. What's more is most people will never know. It will be a thankless action. That's what separates someone that does something because its right and someone that does something because it makes them look good. I'll talk to Neville if he's still awake. If not, I'll talk to him tomorrow. Get some sleep. I'll get Hermione to bed. You'll need your rest, tomorrow is going to be hard, but just remember why you did this."

Harry looked a little better after I put things into a better perspective. He nodded and walked to the boy's dorm rooms. I picked Hermione up and walked to the foot of the girl's dorm rooms' stairs. I looked at portrait of a woman next to the entrance and bowed slightly.

"Gentleman caller." I said softly.

She bowed back and gestured at the stairs. I began walking up the stairs and no alarm went off, the stairs didn't turn into a ramp. I silently slipped into the girls' first year room and put Hermione in her bed, taking off her shoes before pulling her blankets over her. I looked at her sleeping for a few moments, wondering what was happening. What was I changing? I shook my head and walked out. Neville was still awake, sobbing when I walked into the room. I slipped over there and then told him the story of what happened with Hagrid, sneaking to take the dragon to Charlie and his friends, and how we just wanted to save Hagrid and anyone that might have gotten hurt by the dragon. I told him basically the same thing I told Harry. He finally fell asleep, looking better than when he came in. I sighed to myself and went to bed. It had been a long day.

The next day was hard. One hundred and fifty points lost in less than a day. The loss put Gryffindor in last place for the House Cup. At first anyone that passed the hourglasses recording the house points figured there'd been a mistake. How could one hundred and fifty points been lost between the time everyone went to bed and the time that they woke up? But then the stories and the rumors started spreading. The only facts that came out were that somehow Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter, who had put Gryffindor in the lead with the Quidditch wins, and two stupid first years had lost them all those points.

Harry became one of the most hated people, not just in Gryffindor, but in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw too. They had been just as anxious to see Slytherin lose the House Cup and Gryffindor had been the only one with enough points to beat Slytherin. Everywhere he went people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him. The Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped whenever they saw him, cheering and whistling.

Only we stood by him. After Ron got out of the hospital wing he tried to cheer Harry up.

"They'll all forget this in a few weeks. Fred and George have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here, and people still like them."

"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" Harry said miserably.

"Well – no." Ron admitted.

Harry told us he was done meddling with things that weren't his business from now on. He felt so ashamed of himself that he went to Wood and offered to resign from the team. I was there when he told Wood.

"_Resign_!" Wood thundered, "What good'll that do? How are we going to get any points back if we can't win at Quidditch?"

I saw that Harry couldn't even take any fun in Quidditch anymore. The rest of the team wouldn't speak to him and when they referred to him instead of saying Harry or Potter, they'd call him just "the Seeker."

Hermione and Neville suffered too. They didn't have it as bad as Harry, but no one, except for us, would speak to them. Hermione stopped drawing attention to herself in class, keeping her head down and working in silence.

The three of them seemed happy that the exams weren't far away. All the studying we had to do kept their minds free of thinking about what happened.

However things couldn't stay normal for long. Harry ran into the library as Hermione was testing Ron on Astronomy and I was working on my spellbook. Harry told us how he heard Quirinus whimpering and talking as if someone were threatening him. And after he left Harry had gone into the room and saw the door at the other end was ajar.

"Snape's done it, then! If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell –" Ron said.

"There's still Fluffy, though." Hermione said.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid." Ron said, looking up at the thousands of books surrounding us. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?"

Harry looked over at me, "What do you think?"

I took a deep breath before answering, "Something about this is still not adding up. Are Quirrell and Snape working together? Is Snape threatening Quirrell into giving him information? Why would he take the risk of threatening a teacher that could possibly go to Dumbledore? It seems like things are coming close to something big happening though. We have to do something."

Hermione spoke up, "Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we've got no proof!" Harry said. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor – who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Flich wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around –"

"No, we've done enough poking around." Harry said flatly.

With that Harry pulled a map of Jupiter toward him and began memorizing the names of its moons.

The next morning notes came to Harry, Hermione, and Neville at the breakfast table. They were all the same:

Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.

Professor M. McGonagall

At eleven o'clock that night, they said good-bye to Ron and I in the common room. I promised them that I'd stay awake until they came back. Ron was asleep by the time they came back. He had been muttering Quidditch terms in his sleep for the last half hour. Harry, Hermione, and Neville came in the common room. Neville waved to us and said good night to Harry and Hermione before heading up to the first years dorm. He had felt better about what happened since I told him the truth of Hagrid and the dragon. He was still a little sore about ending up involved in the mess with Hagrid in the first place. I couldn't blame him though. Ron shouted something about Quidditch fouls and Harry roughly shook him awake. Hermione sat on the overstuffed chair next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She had seemed confident to do things like that in public after the night she fell asleep in my arms.

Harry sat down and told us all about what happened. He told us about meeting with Hagrid and how they went looking for an injured unicorn after Hagrid found one dead and signs of the injured one. He told us about meeting Ronan and Bane. Then about splitting up, but how Draco scared Neville and how they had switched groups and Harry ended up looking for the unicorn with Draco. They had found the unicorn dead, but then a hooded figure came out of the shadows. Draco and Fang had run off. Unicorn blood was dripping down the front of its robes. Harry had felt a blinding pain in his forehead as the hooded figure came for Harry. Then a centaur named Firenze had scared the figure off and made sure he got back to Hagrid and his friends. Firenze had told him about the curse of unicorn blood and had suggested that there might be someone who used the unicorn blood only until they got something better, something like the Elixir of Life.

By the time that he brought us up to speed he couldn't sit down anymore. He paced up and down in front of the fire, shaking.

"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort…and Voldemort's waiting in the forest…and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…"

"Stop saying the name!" Ron said in a terrified whisper as if he thought Voldemort could hear us.

Harry wasn't listening and Hermione shushed him from beside me.

"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so…Bane was furious…he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen…They must show that Voldemort's coming back…Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me…I suppose that's written in the stars as well."

"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry went on feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off…Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

Hermione looked very frightened and she held on to me, but she had a word of comfort.

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

"While Voldemort has been greatly known for being both powerful and ruthless it has been said often that he still didn't dare enter Hogwarts. Even if Snape, or whoever is after the Stone, took it to him Voldemort couldn't get in here." I added.

They sky had turned light and the fire had went out before we stopped talking. We all went to bed exhausted and our throats sore from talking. But the night's surprises weren't over. When Harry pulled back the sheets on his bed, he whispered to us and we walked over. Lying there, neatly folded, was his invisibility cloak. There was a note pinned to it.

Just in case.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Through the Trapdoor

Exams had come at last. I know Harry was jumpy and half expected Voldemort, in black robes and dripping unicorn blood, to burst through the doors at any minute. But the days passed by with no dark figure, Snape in his usual mood, and Fluffy still growling behind the door when we knocked on it.

The weather had gotten sweltering hot and it was even worse in the classroom where we did written exams. We had practical exams in our regular classrooms too. In Charms I not only made the pineapple tap dance across his desk, but I made it break dance too. We had to change a mouse into a snuffbox in Transfiguration. Even Minerva was impressed that I not only changed mine into a perfect snuffbox, but I even was able to give the box lining. Severus tried to make us all nervous, swooping around while we brewed Forgetfulness potions. I made a perfect potion, much to his annoyance.

Ron and Hermione weren't as worried about the Stone as Harry. But I had a better idea of how Harry felt and what he thought, so I tried to talk with him and help him with dealing with the nightmares he kept having. We had a break from all our stress when we finished our last exam, History of Magic. We all headed out of the castle with everyone else after we were dismissed.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be. I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager." Hermione said as we joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds.

Hermione wanted to go through exams papers but Ron said it made him feel ill. We walked down near the lake and flopped under a tree. We could see Fred, George, and Lee Jordan tickling the tentacles of the giant squid while it basked in the warm shallows.

"No more studying." Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

"I notice the emphasis on yet." I added.

Hermione laughed and Ron just grinned as he put his hands behind his head. Harry was rubbing his forehead though.

"I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting – it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey." Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill. I think it's a warning…it means danger's coming…"

Ron wouldn't get worked up, he said it was too hot.

"Harry relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

Harry nodded at first, but still didn't seem relaxed.

"I just feel like there's something we've forgotten. Something important that we've missed."

"That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one." Hermione said.

Harry still looked unsure as he watched an owl fly toward the school with a note clamped in its mouth. Then he jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" Ron said sleepily.

"I've just thought of something." Harry said. He had turned white, "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."

"Why?" Hermione panted, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?" Harry said as we headed up the grassy slope.

"Oh damnit." I said.

"What are you talking about?" Ron said, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling, "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please." Ron said, but Harry cut him off.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno, he wouldn't take his cloak off." Hagrid said casually.

He saw us look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head – that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas.

"What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," Hagrid said, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah…he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here…He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after…so I told him…an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon…an' then…I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks…Let's see…yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted…but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go any old home…So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…"

"And did he – did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm, but not managing it too well. Hagrid didn't seem to notice, lost in thought.

"Well – yeah – how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep –"

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told you that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey – where're yeh goin'?"

We took off for the castle and didn't stop or talk until we got to the entrance hall.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore. Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort…or Quirrel under that cloak," Harry said with a glance at me, "it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

We looked around, almost as if expecting to see a directory that showed the way to his office. We had never been told where it was and we didn't know anyone that had been there.

"We'll just have to –" Harry began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.

"What are you three doing inside?"

It was Minerva, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore." Hermione and I said at the same time.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Minerva said, looking at us like it was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

"Its sort of a secret." Harry started to say, but Minerva's nostrils flared and her mouth turned into a firm line.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago." She said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"He's gone? Now?" Harry said frantically.

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time –"

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

"Look, Professor – it's about the Sorcerer's Stone –"

Whatever Minerva had expected to hear from Harry, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up.

"How do you know -?" she spluttered.

"Professor, I think – I know – that Sn – that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

She eyed Harry with a mixture of both shock and suspicion.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow. I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor –"

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the books she dropped. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

But we didn't. We couldn't just walk out like nothing was going on.

"It's tonight," Harry said, looking around to make sure Minerva was really out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"But what can we –"

Hermione gasped. We turned around and sure enough Severus was standing there behind us.

"Good afternoon." He said smoothly.

We just looked at him without reply.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this." He said with an odd twisted smile. Personally I thought it was because he knew that we suspected him, yet he knew perfectly well that he was innocent.

"We were –" Harry started to say.

"You want to be more careful. Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"

Harry flushed and the others looked down, but I refused to back down from his gaze. The others started to turn back to go outside, but Snape wasn't finished.

"Be warned, Potter – any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."

He took one more slightly perplexed look at me and at the brick wall in my mind before striding off in the direction of the staffroom. Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to us.

"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered. "One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape – wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that."

"Why me?"

"Its obvious." Ron said, "You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know." Ron put on a high voice, " 'Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong…' "

"Oh, shut up." Hermione said, but she agreed to go and watch out for Snape. I offered to go with her.

"And we'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor," Harry told Ron. "Come on."

We separated and Hermione and I left toward the staffroom. We walked over there and stationed ourselves by the door. But not five minutes after we got there Severus came out.

"Can I help you with something?" he said, sounding annoyed now.

"We were just waiting for Professor Flitwick." Hermione said.

Severus turned without a word and walked back into the staff room. Hermione wanted to run, but I told her it would look suspicious. Filius came out a few moments later.

"Professor, I was just wondering if you could recommend a Charms book for me for during the summer." I said.

He smiled and drew himself up as tall as his frame would allow. He rattled off a few titles and gave his opinion on them for a few minutes more before he let us go. With no excuse to hang around we had to leave back for the common room.

"Maybe Harry and Ron are having better luck than we did." Hermione said, as we walked back. We gave the password and walked in to see Harry and Ron standing inside the common room.

"I'm sorry Harry! Snape came out and asked us what we were doing there. So I said we were waiting for Flitwick and Snape went to get him. Damian covered by asking Flitwick for some summer reading and we didn't have another excuse to stay there so we had to leave. We don't know if Snape is still in the staffroom or somewhere else."

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Harry said.

We all looked at him. Harry looked pale and his eyes were glittering.

"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first."

"Not alone you're not." I said.

Ron and Hermione stared at me too.

"You're both mad!" Ron said.

"You can't!" Hermione said. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"

"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted, "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through the trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?

He glared at the two of them.

"You're right, Harry." Hermione said in a small voice.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak. It's just lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all of us?" Ron said.

"All of us?"

"I said you weren't going alone." I told him.

"Come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?" Ron added.

"Of course not," Hermione said briskly, "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful…."

"But if we get caught, you three will be expelled too."

"Not if I can help it. Flitwick told me in secret after exams that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that." Hermione said, smiling grimly.

After dinner we sat apart in the common room. It wasn't hard though. Nobody bothered us; none of the Gryffindors were talking to Harry still. This was this first night that Harry didn't seem upset by it. Hermione and I were skimming through books and notes, hoping to come across something that would help with the enchantments we were going to try to break. Harry and Ron didn't talk much at all. Both of them looked like they were thinking about what we all were about to do.

Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the cloak." Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan left, stretching and yawning. Harry ran upstairs and came back down a minute later.

"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all of us – if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own –"

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing." Harry said, putting the cloak behind his back.

Neville stared at us, I managed to adopt an innocent air but you could clearly read the guilt on the others faces.

"You're going out again." He said.

"No, no, no." Hermione said, "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"

It was already late and we had to leave.

"You can't go out. You'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble." Neville said.

"You don't understand, this is important." Harry said.

But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate.

"I won't let you do it. I'll – I'll fight you!" he said, standing in front of the portrait hole.

"Neville get away from that hole and don't be an idiot." Ron exploded.

"Don't call me an idiot! I don't think you should be break any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"Yes, but not to us." Ron said in exasperation. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing."

Ron started to step forward, but I moved in front of him as Neville dropped his frog and raised his fists.

"I know this looks really bad Neville. But we're not doing something because of some silly challenge or some prank. This is something important, so important that its hard to believe. You're going to have to take it on faith that this is truly as vital as we're telling you."

Neville lowered his fists slightly but still stood in front of the door. I could hear Harry behind me talking to Hermione.

"Do something."

She stepped up next to me.

"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this." She said, raising her wand. "_Petrificus Totalus_!"

Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board. Hermione ran over and turned him over. Neville's jaws were jammed together so he couldn't speak. Only his eyes were moving, wide and confused.

"What've you done to him?" Harry whispered.

"It's the full Body-Bind. Oh, Neville I'm so sorry."

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain." Harry said.

"You'll understand later, Neville." Ron said.

"I promise we'll explain everything after." I said as we stepped over him and pulled the invisibility cloak around us.

But leaving Neville lying motionless on the floor didn't feel like a very good omen. In the state we were all in every statue's shadow looked like Filch and every distant breath of wind was Peeves swooping down on us. At the foot of the first set of stairs, we spotted Mrs. Norris skulking near the top.

"Oh, let's kick her, just this once." Ron whispered, but Harry shook his head. I rolled my eyes and we climbed carefully around her. Mrs. Norris turned her lamplike eyes on us, but didn't do anything.

We didn't meet or see anyone else until we reached the staircase up to the third floor. Peeves was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet so that people would trip.

"Who's there?" he said suddenly as we got closer. He narrowed his weasel like eyes in our direction. "Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?"

He rose up in the air and floated there, still squinting and trying and see us.

"Should call Flich, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen."

Harry stirred next to me.

"Peeves, the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible." He said in a hoarse whisper.

Peeves was so surprised it looked like he was going to fall out of the air. He caught himself a few inches from the floor and hovered a foot off the stairs as if he was bowing.

"So sorry, you bloodiness, Mr. Baron, sir." He said greasily. "My mistake, my mistake – I didn't see you – of course I didn't, you're invisible – forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir."

"I have business here, Peeves," croaked Harry. "Stay away from this place tonight."

"I will sir, I most certainly will. Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you." Peeves said before scooting off.

"Brillant, Harry!" Ron whispered.

A few seconds later, we were there, outside the third-floor corridor – and the door was already ajar.

"Well, there you are. Snape's already got past Fluffy." Harry said quietly.

Seeing the open door somehow seemed to impress upon us what we were truly facing. Harry turned and looked at us.

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you. You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."

"Don't be stupid." Ron said.

"We're coming." Hermione said.

"You're not getting rid of us that easy." I added.

Harry pushed the door open. As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met our ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffed madly in our direction even though it couldn't see us.

"What's that at its feet?" Hermione whispered.

"Looks like a harp. Snape must have left it there." Ron said.

"It must wake up the moment you stop playing. Well, here goes.." Harry said.

He put Hagrid's flute to his lips and blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Harry hardly drew breath, I could see his face turning slightly red. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased – it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing." Ron warned as we slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor. We could feel the dog's breath, hot on us as we got closer to its heads.

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open." Ron said, peering over the dog's back where the trapdoor was. "Want to go first, Hermione?"

"No, I don't!"

"All right." Ron gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung open easily.

"What can you see?" Hermione said anxiously.

"Nothing – just black – there's no way to climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

Harry, who was still playing the flute, waved at Ron to get his attention and pointed at himself.

"You want to go first? Are you sure?" Ron said.

Harry gestured at himself again.

"I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Damian, he can play music."

Harry handed the flute to me. In the gap of silence Fluffy sleep growled and twitched like he was having a dream but when I started playing he settled back into a deep sleep. While I was playing Harry climbed over the dog's paw and looked down through the trapdoor.

He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up at Ron and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"

"Right." Ron said.

"See you in a minute, I hope…"

Harry let go and the black under the trap door swallowed him. A few moments later his voice carried up to us.

"Its okay! It's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Ron went next through the trap door. A little while later we heard his voice.

"Come on Hermione!"

She gave me a nervous smile before going through the trap door as well. I was right behind her, still playing as I jumped through the opening.

"…miles under the school." Hermione was saying as I landed.

"Lucky this plant thing's here really." Ron said.

"Lucky!" shrieked Hermione. "Look at you both."

I had already moved to the back wall and I grabbed her hand and pulled her over as she leapt up. The plant's snakelike tendrils had tried to twist around her ankles. As for Harry and Ron, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.

Hermione clung to me as we watched Harry and Ron try to pull the plant off them but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.

"Stop moving!" Hermione shouted to them. "I know what this is – it's Devil's Snare."

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help." Ron snarled while he tried to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

"Shut up, we're trying to remember how to kill it." Hermione said.

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare…what did Professor Sprout say?" Hermione said looking at me.

"It likes the dark and the damp." I said.

"So light a fire!" Harry choked.

"Yes – of course- but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, clutching at me.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed, "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" Hermione said as we both whipped out our wands and sent jets of bluebell flames at the plant. There was no sound from the plant, but by the way it wriggled and flailed away from the light and warmth of the flames, you could almost hear it screech. It unraveled itself from Harry and Ron as it tried to cringe away from fire. They were able to free themselves and join us by the far wall.

"Lucky you two pay attention in Herbology." Harry said to us, wiping sweat off his face.

"Yeah, and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis – 'there's no wood' _honestly_." Ron added.

"This way." Harry said pointing down a stone passageway, the only way forward.

All we could hear apart from our own footsteps was the drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward and we all kept an eye out for danger.

"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.

We could now hear a soft rustling and clinking from up ahead.

"Do you think it's a ghost?"

"I don't know…sounds like wings to me."

"There's light ahead – I can see something moving."

We reached the end of the passageway and saw before us a brilliantly lit chamber with a soaring high ceiling. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" Ron said.

"Probably. They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once…well, there's no other choice…I'll run." Harry replied.

He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. We watched him as he ran but there was no change from the birds. Harry reached the door untouched and pulled at the handle. It didn't open. We ran over to join him and tried the door, even using Alohomora, but none of it worked.

"Now what?" Ron said.

"These birds…they can't be here just for decoration." Hermione said.

We looked up at the birds soaring overhead and realized that they were glittering.

"They're not birds!" Harry said. "They're keys! Winged keys – look carefully. So that must mean…" He looked around the room. "…yes – look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are hundreds of them!"

Ron examined the lock on the door.

"We've looking for a big, old-fashioned one – probably silver, like the handle."

We each grabbed a broomstick and kicked off right into the midst of the flying keys. We grabbed at different keys trying to find the right one. They darted and dived quickly, making it hard to catch, but it made little difference, each one we caught looked nothing like the key we were looking for.

"That one!" Harry called to us. "That big one – there – no, there – with bright blue wings – the feathers are all crumpled on one side."

Ron went speeding in the direction Harry was pointing without looking and crashed into the ceiling. I was nearby and helped him to stay on his broom.

"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key. "Ron, you come at from above – Hermione, stay below and stop it from going down – Damian, come in from that side – and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"

Hermione rocketed up from below, Ron dived from above, it dodged them and headed toward me, but as I moved in it headed the other way and Harry streaked after it. It sped toward the wall, Harry leaned forward and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand. We cheered and it echoed in the chamber.

We landed quickly and Harry ran to the door. The key was still struggling when he rammed it into the lock and turned it. The door clicked open and Harry let it go. The key flew off immediately to join the cloud of keys, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" Harry asked us. We nodded and he pulled the door open.

It was so dark we couldn't see anything but as we stepped over the threshold light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

We were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all much taller than we were by a good five feet and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. The others shivered when we looked at the chessmen, they had no faces.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron said. "We've got to play our way across the room."

Just between the white king and queen we could see another door.

"I think we're going to have to be chessmen." Ron said.

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron.

"Do we – er – have to join you to get across?"

The black knight nodded. Ron turned to us.

"This needs thinking about…" he said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of four of the black pieces…"

We stayed quiet, watching Ron think. Finally he said, "Now don't be offended or anything, but Damian you don't play much and Harry and Hermione, neither of you are that good at chess –"

"We're not offended." Harry said quickly, "Just tell us what to do."

"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you go next to him instead of that castle, and Damian you take the place of the other bishop."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be a knight." Ron said.

The chessmen seemed to be listening, because at these words, a knight, the two bishops, and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving four empty squares that we took.

"White always plays first in chess." Ron said, peering across the board. "Yes…look…"

A white pawn had moved forward two squares.

Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. The first real shock came when our other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Had to let that happen." Ron said, looking shaken all the same. "Leaves you free to take the bishop, Hermione, go on."

Every time one of our men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black chess pieces slumped against the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that we were in danger. He darted around the board confidently, taking almost as many white pieces as we had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there." He muttered. "Let me think – let me think…"

The white queen first faced me and then turned her blank face toward him. I knew that Ron had played a slightly different game with me involved than he would have without me there. Now the difference showed in that he had the choice of the queen taking him or taking me.

"Yes…" Ron said softly. "It's the only way…I've got to be taken."

"NO!" We shouted.

"That's chess!" Ron snapped. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me – that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"

"But –"

"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"

"Ron –"

"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"

There wasn't a good alternative. Ron could have chosen the queen to take me, but it would have take two more steps after that for one of us to checkmate the king. This would be the quickest and the most sure way to win.

"Ready?" Ron called, his face was pale but determined. "Here I go – now, don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor – Hermione screamed but stayed on her square – the white queen dragged Ron to the heap of black pieces and dropped him there. He looked as if he'd been knocked out. We looked over at Harry.

Shaking, he moved three spaces to the left. The white king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. We had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear.

"I'll stay with him." I said.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The Man with Two Faces

Harry nodded and Hermione hugged me briefly before they charged through the door. I ran over to Ron and picked him up. I carried him away from the pile of broken chessmen and put him down near the entrance to the chessboard, in the light where I could see his injuries better. He had a shallow cut which probably came from a crack or flaw in the queen's arm, a ugly looking bruise and a rising lump. I cleaned the cut with a handkerchief and closed it with a spell. I heard footsteps coming from the door Harry and Hermione went through but I already knew it was Hermoine coming back. She ran over to me and hugged me.

"Is Ron okay?"

"He'll probably spend a day at most in the hospital wing, but he'll be okay. Where's Harry?"

Hermione told me about the knocked out troll and Severus's logic test. How he had given potions for one person to go forward and one to go back. So Harry had taken the one to go forward and had Hermione take the one to go back and told her to get Ron and I and go to the owlery. I nodded and we tried to get Ron to come around. It took awhile, but he was conscious enough to walk with me supporting him. We made our way back to the key room and took broomsticks from there.

By then Ron was aware enough to keep his balance. We made our way out of the Stone's chambers, rocketed past Fluffy and into the third floor corridor. We made our way to the entry hall where both Ron and Hermione collapsed from exhaustion. I stood guard over them, wondering why we hadn't ran into a single teacher, ghost, or even Flitch and Mrs. Norris.

The doors to the castle burst open and I reacted immediately. I twitched my wrists in that certain way and both wands flew into my hands. I went into a dueling stance that was used when protecting others. Albus actually stopped short as he came in and saw me. As soon as we saw each other I relaxed my stance and my wands disappeared up my robes. Hermione had managed to get up and held on to me.

Albus was still staring at me. He finally broke out of it, said "Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?" and without waiting for an answer took off in the direction of the third floor.

Not long after that Minerva came running from one of the side halls and found us. She supported Hermione while I supported Ron and we walked to the hospital wing.

Poppy worked first on Ron and then looked over Hermione and I. After that we fell asleep in the hospital beds so exhausted that no dreams came.

The three of us awoke rested and fully healed the next morning. Ron had a slight headache, but otherwise he was okay. Harry had been brought back from the Stone's chambers by Albus and was still asleep.

By the time that we got back to Gryffindor tower it seemed like everyone knew what happened already. When we got back we sat down with Neville and explained everything like I promised. He was very good about the whole thing and we thanked him for it.

The next day I played in the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. Wood had grabbed one of the 4th years that tried out for Seeker as a replacement for Harry, but he didn't do too well under the pressure. While the end score wasn't as bad as it could have been, it wasn't too great either.

Then finally on the third day Harry woke up. We went to go see him as soon as possible. It took awhile before Poppy let us in, but finally she relented and we got to see Harry.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled as he came into view. "Oh, Harry, we were sure you were going to – Dumbledore was so worried –"

"The whole school's talking about it." Ron said. "What really happened?"

It was one of those moments that shows that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Harry told us everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. We were a very attentive audience. We gasped in the right places and when Harry told us what was under Quirrell's turban, Hermione screamed and clutched at me.

"So the Stone's gone?" Ron said when Harry was done. "Flamel's just going to die?"

"That's what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that – what was it? – 'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'"

"I always said he was off his rocker." Ron said.

"To say the least." I added.

"So what happened to you three?" Harry said.

"Well, I got back through the fire all right." Hermione said. "Damian and I brought Ron round – that took awhile – and we just made it to the entrance hall when we met Dumbledore – he already knew – he just said, "Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor.

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" Ron said. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"Well, if he did – I mean to say – that's terrible – you could have been killed." Hermione exploded.

"No it isn't." Harry said thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could…"

"Be that as it may Harry. But you had to admit that at the end it was pretty close. Dumbledore himself can make mistakes and he almost made one with your life back there. What if he hadn't arrived in time?" I added.

"Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right." Ron said. "Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course – you missed the last Quidditch match. Damian helped Gryffindor put up a good fight, but we still got beat by Ravenclaw without you – but the food'll be good."

At that moment, Poppy bustled over.

"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT." She said firmly.

As we left I could see Harry deep in thought and knew that he was thinking about what I said.

We spent the next day just hanging out around the grounds and relaxing except I began teaching Hermione archery. She did well and I thought about bringing more than one bow with me next year. That evening we went down with the rest of the Gryffindors to the Great Hall. Harry came down awhile later and there was a general hush when he came in but I kept talking like normal. Then everyone went back to talking again. Harry slipped into a seat between Ron and Hermione and across from me. I could see some people standing up to look at Harry but before it got too strange Albus arrived and the noise died down.

"Another year gone!" Albus said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were…you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…Now as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Albus waited until it started to die down before he continued.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin. However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem." Albus said. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes… First – to Mr. Ronald Weasley…"

Ron went purple in the face; he looked a little like a radish between his blush and his hair.

"…for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house forty points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead even seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

At last there was silence again.

"Second – to Miss Hermione Granger…for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house forty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms. She had burst into tears of joy. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves – we were up almost a hundred points.

"Third – to Mr. Damian Pathwarden…for prompt and decisive action and first aid, I award Gryffindor house thirty points."

Despite my cool demeanor I could feel warmth in my cheeks, especially when Hermione leaned across the table and kissed my cheek while the Gryffindors cheered once again.

"Fourth – to Mr. Harry Potter…" Albus said when the noise died down. The room had gone still. "…for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up quickly while yelling ourselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points – exactly the same as Slytherin. We had tied for the house cup – if only Albus had given one of us one more point.

Albus raised his hand and the room fell silent again.

"There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I stood up to yell and cheer Neville on, while he, white from shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had won only a few points for Gryffindor before. Harry, still cheering, nudged Ron and I and pointed at Draco, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on him.

"Which means…" Albus was saying over the din, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had joined in to celebrate the downfall of Slytherin, "…we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant the green hangings in the Hall became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent behind the staff table vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Severus was shaking Minerva's hand, with a horrible looking fake smile. It would be awhile yet before the din died down enough to actually have the feast.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Meeting with the Headmaster

However, it was that night that stood out for me. That night, full and happy and deeply satisfied, we sat around the common room in front of the fire. Most of the students had gone to bed by now. Harry and Ron were finishing up a game of wizard chess. Hermione was sitting next to me on the couch reading a book and I was writing in my spell book. About ten minutes later Harry and Ron called it a night and after saying their good nights left to bed. Hermione and I were alone in the common room. We sat together in companionable silence.

"Damian." Hermione said, putting her book down.

"Yes." I replied, still writing in my spell book.

"That night, when we came back from the Stone's chambers and Ron and I couldn't go any farther…"

"What about it?" I replied, putting my book down.

"I was so exhausted, but you were holding two wands, protecting us until you realized it was Dumbledore coming weren't you?"

"Yes, my mother taught me dualism."

She was silent again for a few moments while we both just stared into the fire.

"Damian?"

"Yes?"

"I know you're an autor, but knowing how to do dualism is very unusual for a first year. But you're not like the rest of us are you?"

I looked down at her, but she smiled at me and put her head on my shoulder. I breathed freely when she did that. It didn't matter that I wasn't like the rest of them, that I was someone, something different than the people of their world. Hermione didn't care, she just wanted to know.

"No, I'm not like the rest of you."

"But you wanted to come here, right?"

"Yes, very much."

"And you like being here?"

"Yes, very, very much."

"Okay. Will you tell me about it sometime?"

"Yes."

We sat together, looking into the fire and this time it was neither Hermione nor I that broke the silence. It was Sir Nick.

"Master Pathwarden?" he said, coming through the wall.

I looked up at him, not surprised at all to see him.

"Yes Sir Nick?"

"If you're not too tired, the headmaster would like to see you."

"No, I've been expecting his invitation."

I looked at Hermione.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She said.

"I do want to, but it will have to wait until I get back."

"Okay."

I kissed her cheek swiftly and then followed Nick out of the common room and to Albus' office. He stopped outside the door and looked at me.

"Thank you Nick, I can take it from here."

He nodded at me and floated off. I said no password, I simply looked at the golden griffin in front of his office and it opened before me. I knocked at the door to his office.

"Come in."

"Good evening Headmaster." I said walking over and stopping in front of his desk.

"Good evening Damian, have a seat." He replied.

I sat down and for a few moments we simply stared at one another. I felt him try to enter my mind, but was unable to penetrate even my surface thoughts or feelings. That was exceptionally strange to him, one of the most accomplished Legilimens in the wizarding world.

He had known about Harry's exploration in the affair of the Sorcerer's Stone and had let it progress. He honestly didn't expect Quirinus to go after it so soon, which is why he left to the Ministry in the first place. But that was not his greatest surprise.

His greatest surprise was coming upon me, acting as guard over an unconscious Ron and an exhausted Hermione. How, at the sound of his approach, not one, but two wands flew out of hiding in my sleeves into my waiting hands. How I had stood in an experienced and confident dueler's stance and did not drop my guard until it was confirmed that the person coming was indeed he, Albus Dumbledore.

These are the things that surprised him. I knew because, even as he could not see into my mind I could see into his. He was looking into a face, that for all intents and purposes looked like the face of a 12 year old, first year student. If there was anything that disturbed Albus, it was being confused.

This was the case as it stood to him. I was Damian Pathwarden, son of the Pathwarden line. The Pathwarden line had noble magic blood dating, at least, back to the time of Merlin, and before. It was an established family that had blood ties to Godric Gryffindor himself. It was a family that had never stepped into the side of evil. It was also a mysterious family line, building power but keeping to themselves. Then the family just disappeared one day.

No one had heard hide or hair of the Pathwardens until Angela and I arrived. That was the history as it was known to Albus. But that wasn't the extent of the mystery.

Here comes a Pathwarden to Hogwarts for the first time in a century. This Pathwarden is already quite skilled in magic, including the difficulty of healing spells, and is a proficient student of dualism. According to his teachers this year, he learned everything they taught and the only reason he hadn't gotten highest marks for his year is because he doesn't apply himself as much as Hermione Granger.

Rolanda had told Albus I was the best flier she's seen in a long time and Albus himself had seen how skilled I was at the Quidditch game he attended.

Finally I had mental defenses that most experienced wizards and witches couldn't put up. I was confident in a way that denoted someone much older than a first year and neither afraid or intimidated by anything I had come across during my first year.

All of these facts added up to a wizard much older, much more experienced, and much different from the young boy sitting in front of him.

"Why are you here?" he finally asked.

I smiled, "To attend Hogwarts and learn the ways of magic."

"Is that all?"

"Well, now that I'm here I can say that I'm also here to help my friends."

"And those friends include Harry Potter?"

"Of course."

Albus sat and regarded me once more before speaking again.

"There are things he is too young to know."

"That is your opinion headmaster."

"Its for his own good."

"No it isn't. Its for yours. The information he needs to know is one that may speak of his death. And death does not care how young, how old, how happy, or sad, or how innocent, or how experienced a person is before it comes calling. Death will take the young just as easily as the old. But you know about that already, don't you sir."

The color drained from his face as he looked at me, really looked at me. He knew that I was referring to Ariana. He tried and pushed to enter my mind to no avail.

"Who are you?"

"Damian Pathwarden. I will not be anything else here, have no fear of that. And I will help in any way possible to make things better. The general path of the future is set. There is nothing even I can do about it. But the specifics…well, those we make up ourselves as we go along."

"Is that why you're here?"

"Yes…and no. I told you, I'm here to attend Hogwarts. But to attend Hogwarts at this particular place and time means something more than it would any other year."

"So how will you help?"

"I will ease the suffering along the path. I know enough of the way the world works that the suffering that will take place cannot be eliminated, but I know it can be eased. I will help Harry first. After that consideration I will help you in whatever needs to be done."

"And your suggestion is to tell him everything now?"

"You may be able to get away with a year or two more, but I would not push it any further than that. And I know that everything may be extreme at this point. But I still think he should be told more than he has." I looked away for a few moments and then looked back at him with all the seriousness and wisdom that I had gained as a now ageless being.

"I know that you will never have a family, never have a son or daughter to call your own. And I know that you care about Harry as more than just a Headmaster. But even parents learn that their child must go through some pain to gain experience, but they must go through that pain with knowledge. Don't keep him in the dark simply to spare him. If you wish to further, you must come up with a better reason than that headmaster."

Albus looked at me again, regarded me again.

"And your mother?"

"My mother is extraordinary in her own ways. My mother will consider me first, then Harry, then she will help you with anything you wish. I encourage you to contact her, to discuss with her. She can help greatly."

He nodded and stared off out the window at the grounds of Hogwarts.

"So you cannot stop the dark from coming?"

I shook my head, even though his gaze was still on the grounds.

"No, the dark is coming and it must come during this time if it is to be stopped. There is honestly more to this darkness than it appears and that is another reason I am here. But I suppose we'll get to that in time."

"Thank you Damian. We'll speak again soon."

"Good night Headmaster."

I got up and left back to the common room. Hermione was waiting for me, reading my spell book. I had already changed the spell protecting it to allow her access to it, but I hadn't told her yet. Something had told me I wouldn't have to.

"Hi." She said shyly, putting my book down.

"Hi." I said, smiling.

I sat next to her on the couch and we just sat in silence for a few moments.

"How did your meeting with Dumbledore go?"

"It went well."

"So what are you going to do?"

"What I've already been doing. I'm going to continue going to Hogwarts and helping out my friends."

"Am I one of your friends?"

"You're one of my best friends."

We stayed like that for awhile, just watching the fire dwindle down. Eventually we went to bed, but that was all she asked me that night. That was enough for her that night. I guess that was enough for me too. I fell asleep not long after I got into bed and my sleep was dreamless.

The next day was full of activity as we packed up our stuff and got ready to leave. It was full of the usual bustle, trying to find things that you swore you just saw. Neville couldn't find Trevor for an hour. However we finally were all packed up and heading back to London on the Hogwarts Express. We talked and laughed, I took pictures and let the others take pictures with my camera too.

We bought stuff off the trolley and laughed and joked as we sped toward the "ordinary" world. Finally we arrived at the station and after getting passed through by the guard we went through the wall and into the London station. I could see Ginny and Molly Weasley waiting for Ron and his brothers. Harry spoke to them for a bit while I walked forward a bit more to where Angela waited.

We hugged and kissed each other.

"Have fun?" she asked, a twinkle in your eye.

"Definitely." I said with a grin.

"Hi Harry, how did your year go? Quite exciting from what Damian writes to me."

"Hello Mrs. Pathwarden. The year was good. And it was very exciting. And thank you for your gifts, they're great."

She hugged Harry and he hugged her back.

"You're quite welcome, but consider yourself part of the family now."

He smiled and blushed a little. Angela smiled at him and then looked up past Harry where Hermione stood, shyly.

"And who's this beautiful young lady?"

"This is my friend, Hermione Granger." I said, smiling.

"Its nice to meet you Hermione. Did you have a good year?"

"It was wonderful, thank you ma'm."

"Well, you let me know if you ever need anything Hermione. I'd be glad to help."

"Thank you Mrs. Pathwarden."

I said my good-byes to everyone and left with Angela as far as getting out of sight. After that we teleported back to my home dimension. That was the end of my first year at Hogwarts. Now I just had to plan for next year.


End file.
